ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the relationship between human capital, corporate governance characteristics and a firm's performance. One of the most extensively discussed topics in academic literature, the media and speeches by government regulators concerns how to properly structure the organization and put into place effective human capital and corporate governance characteristics to improve the firm's performance. Human capital development is a significant component of an overall effort to achieve cost-effectiveness and to improve a firm's performance. In Malaysia, the corporate governance issue has become a significant focus following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The economic turmoil experienced by most Asian countries in 1997 and 1998 was believed to open the eyes of the corporate world to the importance of corporate governance. Vethanayagam et al. examined the relationship between non-executive directors, managerial ownership and a firm's performance in Malaysian public listed companies.
