Activating Asia: A regional survey of listed companies and investors

By Jane Moir, Head of Research, and Lake Wang, Research Head Greater China, October 2024, on a streamlined 14-question survey of 15 large listed companies in each of 12 Asia-Pacific markets, 180 companies in total, drawn from CG Watch 2023 fieldwork. Of the 180 companies, 76 per cent disclosed that they performed board evaluations but just over 36 per cent made use of external consultants, typically every two to three years, and the board evaluation criterion scored 39 per cent, one of the four weakest of the fourteen questions. Market detail runs from China, where only two of fifteen companies conducted an evaluation, to Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand where all fifteen did, almost always by internal questionnaire; ACGA records that companies are "not particularly forthcoming in describing what the results of evaluations are, and whether remedial action has been taken", with IJM Corp at 4 out of 5 and Fraser and Neave at 4.14 out of 5 the two disclosed scores in 180 companies.