Evolutions In Corporate Governance

In a world where the implications and consequences of corporate actions and decisions are potentially far-reaching and lasting, ethical standards − their observance and their breach − must be part of the language of business conduct, whether in the context of corporate transgressions, regulatory effectiveness, terms of engagement between business and their stakeholders, or the metrics used by investors in assessing performance and risk and understanding long-term value. This critically important book proposes a new paradigm for understanding, developing and maintaining standards of corporate governance. Its point of departure is not a position along the diverse paths of traditional corporate governance and regulatory theory, law and practice, nor specific questions of how to institute, implement and observe policies and practices that function as proxies for good governance. Instead, it starts with the idea of framing governance generally, and corporate governance specifically, as a matter of conduct that is guided by a set of fundamental ideals and principles. Evolutions in Corporate Governance attempts to answer the wider question of how to re-imagine a framework within which ‘good’ corporate governance − that takes account of and is responsible for the social, environmental, ethical as well as legal and economic dimensions of business conduct − is addressed alongside issues of profitability and competition, in the face of forces of globalization and business influence that are testing the limits of what can be accomplished by traditional law and regulation. Dempsey contends that meaningful change in behaviour will only come when there is a corporate governance framework that explicitly encompasses both law and ethics.

In this Element the origins of corporate governance are reviewed, recognising that corporate entities have always been governed, that important developments took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the huge significance of the invention of the joint-stock limited liability company. The development of corporate governance in the twentieth century around the world is explored, with complex groups, private companies, and top management dominating shareholder power appearing in the Inter-war years. Some unresolved issues in both principle and practice are identified. Various theories of corporate governance are described and contrasted. The subject is seen to be in search of its paradigm and a systems theoretical relationship between the theories is suggested. The need to rethink the concept of the limited liability company is argued, and a call is made for the development of a philosophy of corporate governance.

With the increasing awareness that mere economic and production-based explanations do not adequately describe the motivations for governance, researchers have focused on the behavioral side of the firm performance to justify the economic rationale of their typical behaviours. This book describes the concept of corporate governance, its emergence and the contemporary thinking around it. With emphasis on "conflicts of interests" assumed to be related to the theory of separation of ownership and control, the book delves into topics such as insider trading, excessive executive compensation, managerial, expropriation of shareholders’ wealth, false reporting, accounting non-disclosures and self dealing.

For many Americans, capitalism is a dynamic engine of prosperity that rewards the bold, the daring, and the hardworking. But to many outside the United States, capitalism seems like an initiative that serves only to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few hereditary oligarchies. As A History of Corporate Governance around the World shows, neither conception is wrong. In this volume, some of the brightest minds in the field of economics present new empirical research that suggests that each side of the debate has something to offer the other. Free enterprise and well-developed financial systems are proven to produce growth in those countries that have them. But research also suggests that in some other capitalist countries, arrangements truly do concentrate corporate ownership in the hands of a few wealthy families. A History of Corporate Governance around the World provides historical studies of the patterns of corporate governance in several countries-including the large industrial economies of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States; larger developing economies like China and India; and alternative models like those of the Netherlands and Sweden.

This book sets the stage of the evolution of corporate governance, laws and regulations, other forms of governance, and the interaction between data governance and other corporate governance sub-disciplines. Given the continuously evolving and complex regulatory landscape and the growing number of laws and regulations, compliance is a widely discussed issue in the field of data. This book considers the cost of non-compliance bringing in examples from different industries of instances in which companies failed to comply with rules, regulations, and other legal obligations, and goes on to explain how data governance helps in avoiding such pitfalls. The first in a three-volume series on data governance, this book does not assume any prior or specialist knowledge in data governance and will be highly beneficial for IT, management and law students, academics, information management and business professionals, and researchers to enhance their knowledge and get guidance in managing their own data governance projects from a governance and compliance perspective.

This book provides a critical analysis of the evolution of corporate disclosure. Building upon prior academic literature, it assesses the most important changes in mandatory corporate disclosure, the growing relevance of social and environmental disclosure, and revolutionary new forms of corporate communication, in particular social media. It also includes empirical analyses that shed further light on the impact of voluntary communication, i.e. social and environmental reporting and corporate social media communication, on managerial and investment decisions. Lastly, it discusses new directions for accounting and corporate governance research on the theoretical and empirical challenges of corporate disclosure. Offering a wealth of relevant and timely advice, the book will help regulators design policies that allow businesses to overcome current and emerging economic, social, and technological challenges.