The paper contributes to the empirical investigations of emerging markets focusing
on PP conflicts. However, this research is limited to cross sectional one year data
with a limited number of companies. Findings suggest that PP conflicts are a major
problem in Asia and call for more research focus. PP conflicts in this study are
measured by using cash dividends made to large shareholders with interaction of
cash flows, to show the cost of expropriation depicted in PP conflicts.
Agency theory is used to test this notion, but focuses on the misappropriation of cash
by agents or principals who control the companies they run. A sample of 194
companies in the ASEAN 4 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines) has
been considered to test and seems to support the notion that PP conflicts in the
agency theory perspective are consistent with prior studies of other emerging
markets. The levels of percentage for large shareholders expropriating are at 5%
and 10% stakes with what may be a detrimental impact to the companies’ growth.
This study also proposes to encourage regulators to utilise dividend payout as the
corporate governance mechanism for monitoring purposes in light of this concern.
The other direct implication of these findings is the importance of investors’
performance with regard to PP conflicts in Asian markets. Minority shareholders are
at risk of expropriation and this situation calls for urgency in stronger investor
protection. There do not appear to be any desirable solutions for resolving PP
conflicts in emerging economies and particularly in the ASEAN 4. Further empirical
research in this area will definitely bring more perspective to this unique problem.