Enquiry into the codes of corporate governance best practices during COVID-19 at uppermost management level - A case study of ZUPCO

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess senior management’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic using a case study of the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO), which is wholly-owned state enterprise in the public road passenger transport sector in Zimbabwe. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) issued out a plethora of measures that included lock-downs, social distancing etc. which affected business and social activity in a significant way. Companies had to adopt various measures to ensure business survival whilst at the same time ensuring the safety of its employees and maintaining their corporate social responsibilities without compromising the codes of corporate governance principles, especially their responsibilities to shareholders. The research adopted the qualitative approach where a case study was used where a questionnaire was circulated to all the ten senior managers at ZUPCO. The study concluded that senior management at ZUPCO was committed to, and adhered to codes of corporate governance best practices as evidenced by the setting of organizational objectives and having performance review processes to measure performance. The holding of regular meetings and existence of information disclosure policies also served to buttress this commitment to the codes. The current research relied mainly on the questionnaire, but future researchers should consider use of interviews and focus discussion groups to collect data from study participants. The study also recommends a replication of the research post the Covid-19 era to establish the degree of consistency.