An overview of corporate governance

Despite its significance in reshaping corporate competitiveness, corporate governance is not well defined by literature. In that regard, this study seeks to provide an overview of corporate governance based on corporate governance characteristics and variables used in corporate governance studies, and its relevance on firm performance. We employed a systematic literature review whose analysis suggests that corporate governance combines structures, processes and systems, and it is characterised by effective board of directors, enhanced relationship with stakeholders, ownership structure, and ownership concentration. It is also revealed that firm age, firm size, firm profitability, type of an industry, and leverage are predominant control variables in corporate governance studies. Mainly, these studies also define firm performance in terms of ROA, ROE, and Tobin's Q. It was also found that the relationship between corporate governance practices and firm performance is apparent. Future studies need to consider the fact that corporate governance is an evolving field.