Disclosure and Practices of Gender Diversity and Inclusivity by Malaysian Food and Beverage Companies

DISCLOSURE AND PRACTICES

OF GENDER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY

BY MALAYSIAN FOOD AND BEVERAGE COMPANIES

Yeong Xu Hong

Faculty of Accounting, Business and Finance

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College

ABSTRACT

The gender diversity in corporate sector becomes an important issues recently that need to be addressed due to the benefits driven and this had drawn the attention of government and some of the organisation in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to assess the disclosure and practices of the seven selected companies in the food and beverage industry particularly on gender diversity and inclusivity in the boardroom, top level management and workplace. In this study, the data is analysed using the annual report, sustainability report, diversity report, and company website of the selected companies in 2014.

Keywords: gender diversity and inclusivity, board, top management, workplace, food and beverage industry, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

In recent times, the corporate are increasingly under pressure to ensure the diversity in the decision maker level and the disclosure of the diversity related report and policies especially in term of gender. This pressure is driven from the increasing demands and expectations from various stakeholder of the company who expect the company to have better corporate governance practices and long-term sustainability.

The corporate governance can be defined as a systems by which companies are directed and controlled. Diversity is of one the important element of the corporate governance. Therefore, having well-developed diversity policies and disclosure of the policies become a very important step for company to ensure best practices of corporate governance and helps the firms to improve company performance, foster growth, manage risks, attract investor and survive in the various type of crisis (IFC, 2014).

In line with the demand and expectation, government has adopted the various policy to ensure the better diversity and inclusivity practices in the listed company like setting the quota of women participation in the company and encouraging the listed company to disclose their diversity policies. Every company in every industry is recommended to comply with the policy and target set, including food and beverage industry. In food and beverage industry, the practice of gender diversity in board and management is extremely crucial due to the industry is operating in a volatile environment and many of the element of uncertainty is existed in the industry.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the disclosure and practices of the seven selected companies in the food and beverage industry particularly on gender diversity and inclusivity in the boardroom, top level management and workplace. The content analysis will be used in reviewing annual report, sustainability report, diversity report, and company website of the selected companies in 2014.

The paper is structured as follow: The section reviews the literature on the concept of Gender Diversity and Inclusivity, then overview of gender diversity and inclusivity in Malaysia context, and food and beverage industry. Then, the discussion and result will be presented followed by a conclusion.

Gender Diversity and Inclusivity

Diversity refers to the range of similarities and differences that the people have, including but not limited to gender, ethnicity, nationality, age and so on (LutherCollege, 2015). While the inclusion is defined as a stated of being recognised, supported and respected. (Jordan, 2011).  The gender diversity and inclusivity is refer to the equal treatment and acceptance of both males and females in an organisation, some of the common example like provides the equal rewards, resources, promotion opportunities, and training program to everyone (Lombardo, n.d.). The gender diversity and inclusivity in company can in different setting such as boardroom and management team  

In recent years, the gender diversity in the decision maker level of the company has received increasing attention in the article, press, corporation and government in worldwide (Bjarnadottir, 2013). The reason behind the significant attention on the boardroom gender diversity is due to the women still remain underrepresented on the boardroom despite the women undergraduates are outnumber the men in most of the university and equipped same relevant skills as men in the workplace (Lehobo, 2011). In gender diversity, the concept of “glass ceiling” have come into wide use which describe the invisible barrier that blocks women’s opportunities of climbing up the corporate ladder. The common “glass ceiling” that positioned in top management level are the organisational cultural, work and family balance, the male perception and attitude, and the different leadership style between men and women (Devillard, Sultan and Werner, 2014).

Some of the studies and analysis have proved that gender balance in board and management could bring certain benefit to the organisation. According to the Credit Suisse’s recent report, shows that the companies with greater board gender diversity display better stock market return (CreditsSuisse, 2014). Besides, the high women representation in company may enhance the board and management effectiveness since they bring different perspectives to the difficult issues that the corporation is facing and enable the company to be more innovative and creative (Myatt, 2013).

According to the studies from Chartered Institutes of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that women are act as the crisis manager in the company (CIPD, 2015.). A quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘women are like teabags; you don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water’. The potential explanation is that people perceived that women possess leadership abilities that are especially valuable in the context of an ongoing decline in company performance rather than when it is going well (CIPD, 2015.). A report found that the leadership behaviour of women are more on participative decision making, people-oriented and being good role model to their subordinates. These behaviours are very desirable and valuable when leading a company through the crisis time (The conversation, 2012). Moreover, the well-diverse board and management team in the company enable the company to thrive in and adapt to the environment, ultimately enhance the sustainability, performance and growth of the company (Myatt, 2013).