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The purpose of this study is to report on the level of audit committee (AC) effectiveness on the top capitalized firms in GCC countries and to empirically investigate the hypothesized influence of ownership types on the level of AC effectiveness.

The empirical data were drawn from annual reports of 119 top listed firms in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations at the end of 2011. Ordinary least squares regression analysis was constructed to examine the relationships between ownership types and the level of AC effectiveness.

The findings revealed that family, government and institutional ownership, in addition to board independence, all have significant positive association with AC effectiveness, and they serve as a complement to AC effectiveness.

The findings of the study are important for policy makers and regulators as they could use them to understand the relationship between different corporate governance mechanisms and formulating best strategies that would help them to improve and adopt an optimal governance system constituted from interacting governance mechanisms.

This study is one of few that have examined the interaction between different corporate governance mechanisms. It provides insights about the relationship between AC effectiveness and other governance mechanisms in the GCC context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the development of human capital by examining the interplay between different organizational mechanisms, including leadership, organizational culture and human resources management (HRM) practices. This study aims to enhance our understanding of how knowledge exchange influences human capital, with a specific focus on the unique context of Dubai, an area and context that have been underexplored in this research domain.

This study used a survey-based approach, involving 611 participants working across different sectors based in Dubai. This study used partial least squares structural equation modeling as the statistical analysis method.

The results of the study indicate that leadership behaviors have a predictive influence on organizational culture. In turn, organizational culture significantly affects knowledge exchange. Additionally, the study reveals that commitment-based HRM practices play a significant moderating role in the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge exchange.

This study contributes to the existing literature by providing valuable insights into the interplay between leadership, organizational culture and commitment-based HRM practices. By exploring these factors and their influence on knowledge exchange and human capital, the study enhances both the theoretical understanding and practical application in this field.

This paper seeks to review the reasons for which Saddam's regime intended to destroy and eliminate Kuwait's entire oil infrastructure before and after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The underestimation of oil wells that would be torched by Iraqi forces is also discussed in this paper.

To approach the scope of this paper, the intentions and the practical evidence of such sabotage are pointed out. Efforts to rescue Kuwait's oil wells in addition to planning for the expected catastrophe are highlighted. The plausible reasons that made such underestimation unclear are elaborated.

The instructions included in the Iraqi documents showed undoubtedly that the sabotage operation was not a random last‐minute attempt to destroy the oil wells, but it was a carefully supervised and well planned endeavor to completely destroy Kuwait's oil infrastructure. Owing to those efforts and planning, more than 100 oil wells were rescued throughout Kuwait. Due to such underestimation Kuwait suffered severe losses both to its oil industry and to its ecological system.

Since the reasons for the lower estimates of oil wells, torched by Iraqi troops, to a maximum of 100‐150 wells were unclear, this paper attributes Kuwait's economic losses and environmental degradation to such underestimation and suggests more investigations on this issue.

Kuwait's catastrophe brought the attention to environmental concerns that should receive immediate consideration, while the scorched‐earth tactic applied in Kuwait and the resulting environmental disaster led to a positive reaction by the international community and spawned a new environmental treaty at the regional level.

This is the first paper that addresses the underestimation of Kuwait's oil disaster. The conflagration in Kuwait demonstrated the danger in conducting large‐scale modern combat in an environmentally fragile area, and shows how exposed all oil‐producing nations are to this type of environmental and economic disaster in the future.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 precipitated an ecological tragedy in the Arabian Gulf region. During the course of the invasion Kuwait suffered severe losses to both its oil industry and its ecological system. The scale of damage was enormous, ranging from destruction as a result of oil fires and spills to the economic deterioration of Kuwait's oil industry. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the lessons learned from Kuwait's oil well catastrophe in the hope of preventing or at least minimizing future such man‐made disasters.

The paper reviews and analyzes Kuwait's oil well tragedy in terms of its scope, logistical services provided to cope with the disaster, the techniques used in firefighting operations and related political issues. The paper also discusses the need to review existing environmental laws and the concept of environmental crime in light of this catastrophe.

There are many important lessons that can be drawn from Kuwait's catastrophic disaster, the most important of which is to ensure that dictators in the future never believe they can destroy the environment without severe repercussions from the international community.

The conflagrations in Kuwait demonstrate the dangerous consequences of large‐scale modern combat in an environmentally fragile area. Not just Kuwait but all oil‐producing nations, especially the Gulf countries, are vulnerable to this type of environmental and economic disaster.

Kuwait's tragedy highlights the need for immediate consideration of possible similar disasters in the future and how the global community will deal with them. The high cost of environmental degradation only gets more expensive when left unattended. The price is paid not only in hard currency for firefighting but in damage to the public's health and in other environmental problems. This paper shows that sustainable development is impossible in the presence of wars and terrorist activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate governance strength on stock market liquidity in an emerging country, namely, Malaysia, by constructing a corporate governance score that captures both internal monitoring mechanisms (board of directors’ characteristics, audit committee’s characteristics and internal audit function) and external monitoring mechanism (audit quality).

The study uses a sample of 2,020 yearly firm observations in Bursa Malaysia over the period 2009-2012. The ordinary least square regression and several estimation methods such as two-stage least squares using instrumental variables (IV-2SLS) and dynamic GMM are employed.

This study finds a significant positive association between corporate governance effectiveness and stock market liquidity. The finding is robust to alternative liquidity measurements, to alternative estimation methods, and to endogeneity bias.

This result implies that the firms with effective monitoring mechanisms mitigate information asymmetry which leads to less adverse selection problems among traders.

This study provides implications for regulators to help design regulations that enhance stock market liquidity. This study could also help investors and traders to formulate their trading decisions, and enables firms to know the importance of strengthening the corporate governance monitoring mechanisms.

This study constructs a corporate governance effectiveness measure by combining both internal and external monitoring mechanisms. These mechanisms have not been constructed together in one score in the corporate governance literature and the impact of internal audit function, as an internal monitoring mechanism on liquidity, has yet to be examined.

The purpose of this paper is to set guidelines for the development and review of environmental impact statements (EIS) for major development projects proposed in the third review of the Kuwait Master Plan (KMP3). Best practices for environmental quality management to alleviate the impact of these projects on the environment are discussed.

The paper selects six major projects proposed for the period (2005‐2030) in KMP3. These projects include construction of new towns, power plants, highways, hospitals, waterfront projects and sanitary engineering projects. The current environmental impact assessment (EIA) system in Kuwait is reviewed and a comprehensive proposal to develop or review EISs for each of the six projects is recommended.

The projects selected are known to have adverse environmental impacts. The proposed EIS system will help developers prepare and submit a comprehensive EIS to obtain an environmental permit from the Environment Public Authority in Kuwait.

The proposed guidelines could be modified and applied to EISs for similar projects in other Gulf countries and other regions in the world that have similar climate conditions and geographies.

It is hoped that the proposed EIS guidelines will qualify as best practices for environmental quality management of comparable projects. The guidelines should reduce the time involved for preparing EISs and promote greater content accuracy in addition to promoting a “cleaner production” approach for these projects.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature about the environment as one of the victims of war throughout the history of mankind. Kuwait's environment, as a victim of the scorched‐earth tactic carried out by the retreating Iraqi forces in 1991, is also reviewed. The probable scenarios of an environmental threat in Iraq as a result of exploding the oil wells or discharging crude oil into the two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, are elaborated, taking into consideration the repetition of the current terrorist attacks on Iraq's oil installations.

The difficulties likely to face the firefighting efforts in such scenarios, compared with Kuwait's experience, are mentioned, with reference to the main differences between Kuwait's and Iraq's oil fields, topography, logistic services and security situation.

Owing to the large oil‐reserves in Iraq, the prospective environmental damages and economic losses are expected to be enormous. As the terrorist attacks on Iraq's oil installations may escalate, the potential scenarios of oil discharge into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, or the use of scorched‐earth tactics in Iraq, might become the worst man‐made ecological disasters in history.

It is believed that such scenarios should be taken seriously by the concerned environmental planners and the need to secure Iraq's oil fields is paramount.

This paper highlights the problems associated with maintaining an adequate level of security and the potential repetition of terrorist attacks which will undoubtedly prevent or postpone any sustainable development in Iraq, especially in the oil industry and the two rivers‐based‐projects for at least the next decade. The effects of unsustainable development can become entangled with traditional forms of conflict in a way that can widen and deepen the latter in Iraq.

Purpose: The best way of improving youth entrepreneurs’ success rates is to provide youth entrepreneurs with quality support, skills, and resources to be better equipped and willing to make any decision that makes them creative with time. This chapter explores youth entrepreneurship in the MENA region as educating young people about entrepreneurship is crucial today and is about developing new businesses in the region.

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter mainly aims at the role of academia in boosting entrepreneurship among young people in the UAE. Then the literature provides insights on the substantial gender effect on becoming an entrepreneur and the region’s job market.

Findings: Our research indicates that the global economy is witnessing a sudden rise in entrepreneurship in all life areas, based on current world dynamics. Thus, young people must learn and accomplish skills that promote creativity for doing business. For young people to have the requisite skills to start their businesses, educational programs must be in line with industry requirements.

Originality/value: This chapter of the book focuses on youth entrepreneurship, which would help upcoming researchers and students grasp good knowledge about entrepreneurship’s importance. It also recommends relevant research areas on MENA youth entrepreneurship support programs.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the vulnerability of the aquifer using two models of analysis (DRASTIC and GOD) that were applied in practice in the regions of Bir Chouhada, Souk Naamane and Ouled Zouai in the district of Oum El-Bouaghi.

This study aims to determine the most adequate methods to ensure the protection of the Bir Chouhada, Souk Naamane and Ouled Zouai aquifer from pollution using vulnerability assessment. The application of the DRASTIC and GOD models made this evaluation possible.

The analysis of the both maps of vulnerability, resulting from the application of the two methods (DRASTIC and GOD), has revealed several classes of vulnerability that are no-, low-, medium- and high-vulnerable area. High DRASTIC vulnerability values vary between 145 and 178, and those of GOD vary between 0.07 and 0.57. It is observed that vulnerability increases from the center toward the eastern part of the plain; this is confirmed by the repartition of nitrate contents. The impact of the hydraulic conductivity on vulnerability to pollution is more significant than those of the vadose zone and the aquifer media. This is well observed when considering the single-parameter sensitivity analysis.

The text deepens the understanding of the vulnerability assessment and quality of the aquifer and the groundwater. The present study can be used for the assessment and the management of groundwater.