Sample Data
All data for this study was obtained directly from the 1998 annual reportXIV of the surveyed publicly listed firms from South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The initial sample population comprised all publicly listed firms on the Johannesburg (South Africa), Stockholm (Sweden) and London (United Kingdom) stock exchanges as at December 31, 1998. Firms having not been listed on these three exchanges for at least twelve months prior to this cut-off date were excluded from the initial population. Also, consistent with prior corporate governance research, firms from the financial and utilities sectors were excluded from the initial sample population (see, for example, Vafeas and Theodorou, 1998). From the remaining sample, 120 firms from each nation were randomly selected. A variety of methods (such as direct contact and collection from annual report databases such as FIS Online) were used to collect the desired documentation. After an extended period of collection a total useable sample of 286 annual reports were collected: 84 - South Africa; 94 – Sweden; and 108 - United Kingdom.XV