A lack of accountability among corporations is fuelling public discontent with the private sector across the world, say leading economists.
The social and political challenges that have erupted in the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements show that current standards of corporate governance have failed, warned delegates at a forum in Dubai organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Hawkamah, the institute for corporate governance.
"If you're in Paris or in London you can't fail to be aware of the protesters and those occupying parts of Wall Street and other places," said Grant Kirkpatrick, the deputy head for corporate affairs at the OECD.
"What you have is a very large percentage of the populations saying that we have just had enough - that the things we have been saying are working just haven't worked."
Companies across the Middle East have been taking steps towards better corporate governance standards, including the prevention of conflicts of interest among directors, said Nasser Saidi, the executive director of the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance.
But popular uprisings against governments in Egypt and Tunisia, many of which took fighting state corruption as a rallying cry, should provide fresh impetus for companies to implement these reforms, he added.
"Young people across our region are asking for greater transparency, for disclosure, for change," said Mr Saidi.
The UAE Government announced on Saturday a decree forcing greater disclosure and transparency on all institutions and companies owned by the Federal Government.
The decree ensures that board members at regulatory bodies cannot act as directors for the companies they regulate, and limits the number of boards they can sit on. Government-owned companies will also be forced to improve internal controls and form an audit committee.
The new decree was a "move in the right direction", Mr Saidi said, and would help to further competition between government-owned companies and the private sector.
