Convergence in Corporate Governance Practices: Evidence from Listed-Companies in Morocco

Abstract

This chapter takes an in-depth look at the recommendations of the Moroccan code of good practices of corporate governance, inspired by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Principles, against the findings of a recent survey, conducted in listed companies in 2012, by the Institute of Moroccan Directors (IMA). It illustrates how the country has elaborated its own corporate governance codes in a consultative way, involving all key stakeholders – companies, civil society, and government – and shows similarly, how listed companies implement those recommendations. It appears that there is a strong need to further build common understanding of governance principles; given that the Code’s recommendations were more consistently implemented, when regulators were enforcing them as legal rules. IMA advocates for a pragmatic approach to help enforce the Codes’ recommendations, through education, based on a better understanding of firms’ profiles and markets’ constraints; or risk that there remain merely symbolic, at the expenses of substantive reforms, to raise boards’ practices.