German Corporate Governance In International And European Context

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the German corporate governance model to English speaking readers. It provides an introduction to the unique features of German Business and Enterprise Law. The book deals with the most important company organs, namely the General Meeting, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. It also covers the unique interplay among these organs and details the particular dynamics of the German two-tier board structure. It gives insight into Accounting as the Documentary Proof of Good Corporate Governance. In addition, coverage examines the dominant role of the German banks and new players in the German financial markets.

The main aim with this book is to provide English speaking readers with a comprehensive overview of the German corporate governance model. The authors introduce the reader to the unique features of the German Business and Enterprise Law. The book deals with the most important company organs, namely the General Meeting, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. The unique interplay among these organs are also covered and the reader is introduced to the particular dynamics of the German two-tier board structure. Further the authors deal with the dominant role of the "German banks" and new players in the German financial markets, focussing particularly on voting rights of these institutions at companies' general meetings and appointing members to companies' supervisory boards. Accounting is shown as the documentary proof of good corporate governance. The final chapter gives an overview of corporate governance in the European Union, the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and corporate governance in the US, the UK and Australia.

Corporate governance encompasses the free enterprise system, which is treated comprehensively in this book from a German perspective. This distinguishes the book from other books written in English in this subject area, not only because of the comprehensive way it covers German corporate law and corporate governance, but also because of the fact that it provides international and European perspectives on these important topics. This second edition is an extensively revised and updated version of the first edition, in particular with a view to the worldwide debt crisis. The authors provide readers with an overview of the unique features of German business and enterprise law and an in-depth analysis of the organs of governance of German public limited companies (general meeting, management board, supervisory board). In addition, approaches for reforms required at the international level are also suggested and discussed, including, among others, the unique interplay and dynamics of the German two-tier board model with the system of codetermination, referring to the arrangement of employees sitting on the supervisory boards of German public limited companies and private companies employing more than 500 employees; also covered are significant recent legal developments in Europe. The book highlights the core function of valuation and financial reporting at the international, European and German levels, with accounting as the documentary proof of good corporate governance. It also expands the scope of the first edition by a treatment of the German financial sector, global corporate finance and governance, and by including a new chapter on compliance of corporate governance laws, rules and standards in Germany. As far as comparative law is concerned, new developments in the area of corporate governance in the EU, the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and corporate governance in the US, the UK and Australia are covered. The book is addressed to researchers, practitioners and basically anyone with an interest in the complex, but intriguing areas of corporate law and corporate governance.

Increased regulatory competition has sharpened the comparative awareness of advantages or disadvantages of different national models of political economy, economic organization, governance and regulation. Although institutional change is slow and subject to functional complementarities as wellas social and cultural entrenchment, at least some features of successful modern market economies have been in the process of converging over the last decades. The most important change is a shift in governance from state to the market. As bureaucratic ex-ante control is replaced by judicial ex-postcontrol, administrative discretion is replaced by the rule of law as guidelines for the economy. Furthermore, at least to some extent, public enforcement is being reduced in favor of private enforcement by way of disclosure, enhanced liability, and correspondent litigation for damages. Corporatistapproaches to governance are giving way to market approaches, and outsider and market-oriented corporate governance models seem to be replacing insider-based regimes.This transition is far from smooth and poses a daunting challenge to regulators and academics trying to redefine the fundamental governance and regulatory setting. They are confronted with the task of making or keeping the national regulatory structure attractive to investors in the face ofcompetitive pressures from other jurisdictions to adopt state-of-the-art solutions. At the same time, however, they must establish a coherent institutional framework that accommodates the efficient, modern rules with the existing and hard-to-change institutional setting. These challenges - put in acomparative and interdisciplinary perspective - are the subject of the book. As a reflection of the transnationality of the issues addressed, the world's three leading economies and their legal systems are included on an equal basis: the EU, the U.S., and Japan across each of the subtopics ofcorporations, bureaucracy and regulation, markets, and intermediaries.

In the context of the financial and economic crisis, corporate governance and regulatory supervision failures, Laura Horn investigates one of the defining questions in social power relations in contemporary capitalism: who controls the modern corporation, and why.

"Because the prevailing product market strategies of German firms are solidly based on the stakeholder model, change will be limited to those elements that do not destroy the firms' competive advantage."--BOOK JACKET.

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1,3 (German Grading System), University of Washington, language: English, abstract: After scandals like Enron in the past years, companies have been pressured to establish Corporate Governance systems to control their management. The design of these systems is often determined on a national level, but varies substantially from country to country. This paper deals with the different systems of Corporate Governance in the United States and Germany and establishes a comparison. The focus is put on how the German system is different from that of the US. At the end, recent developments in the Corporate Governance landscape are discussed. To begin with, it is important to understand what Corporate Governance means. It is defined as “The system of rules, practices and processes by which a company is directed and controlled”. These rules, practices and processes are supposed to achieve values like integrity, transparency and fairness. Thereby, Corporate Governance can support a corporation to “fulfill its goals and objectives in a manner that adds to the value of the company and is also beneficial for all stakeholders in the long term”. Furthermore, it strengthens a company’s reputation and has shown to increase share prices by establishing trust. Potential investors, who might not be familiar with a corporation’s processes and controlling practices in detail, can rely on statutory monitoring systems.

This book critically examines shareholder primacy and develops a new theory of shared corporate governance that includes employees.