LEGISLATIVE BACKING AND STRUCTURAL AUTHORITY:STRENGTHENING CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN EMERGING MARKET INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The paper explores how legislative support and structural power contribute to the corporate governance within emerging market institutions, in the case of Pakistan; Punjab Sahulat Bazaars Authority (PSBA). PSBA is the first government welfare organization in Pakistan to be transformed into a fully Section 42 company into an entirely statutory entity; this serves as an example of how formal legal empowerment and effective organizational designs can influence clear and smooth governance. Through the qualitative documentary case-study, the research uses the triangulation of the legislative writing, government documents, audits, pricing and media information to assess the legal, fiscal and operational performance of PSBA. PSBA under the strategic leadership of Naveed Rafaqat Ahmad applied strategies like solar markets, real-time pricing, inclusion of women in the vendor policies, and mobile bazaar, which allowed the delivery of essential goods at up to 35 percent of the market prices without subsidies. Results indicate PSBA as a model that can be replicated to introduce institutional change and governance innovation in emerging markets.