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Full-Text Articles in Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics

Governance Of The Governing: Accountability And Motivation At The Top Of Public Organizations, Donald Nordberg Sep 2013

Governance Of The Governing: Accountability And Motivation At The Top Of Public Organizations, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

Developments in the governance practices in UK public organizations show how ideas from the governance of listed companies have translated into public sectors bodies, government departments and the governance of parliament itself. The use of independent, non-executives directors in public bodies encapsulates the tension in the private sector between the service role of directors and how they control the executives who manage the business. This paper gives a preliminary examination of three public bodies, comparing how reform of their governance mechanisms has affected tensions in accountability and director motivation. What is evident is that the changes involve greater emphasis on …


The Merits Of Cooperative Corporate Governance In The Digital Age, Meredith-Anne Kurz Jan 2013

The Merits Of Cooperative Corporate Governance In The Digital Age, Meredith-Anne Kurz

Meredith-Anne Kurz

No abstract provided.


Last Of The Tai-Pans: Improving The Sustainability Of Long-Term Financial Flows By Improving Hong Kong’S Corporate Governance, Bryane Michael Jan 2013

Last Of The Tai-Pans: Improving The Sustainability Of Long-Term Financial Flows By Improving Hong Kong’S Corporate Governance, Bryane Michael

Bryane Michael (bryane.michael@stcatz.ox.ac.uk)

Hong Kong leads the rank tables as an international financial centre. However, the data indicate that some parts of her corporate governance arrangements probably detract from – rather than contribute to – that leading position. In this brief, we show how excessive shareholding concentration, probably self-dealing, insufficient minority shareholder recourse to mechanisms aimed at protecting their investments, and Hong Kong’s close links with several “tax havens” probably weaken Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre. We present 18 recommendations aimed at increasing the volume of international financial capital coming to the city by improving Hong Kong’s corporate governance.


Do Women In Top Management Affect Firm Performance? Evidence From Indonesia, Salim Darmadi Jan 2012

Do Women In Top Management Affect Firm Performance? Evidence From Indonesia, Salim Darmadi

Salim Darmadi

This paper investigates the relationship between gender diversity on management boards and financial performance of Indonesian listed companies. We conduct cross-sectional regression analysis based on a sample comprising 92.4 percent of public firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). We find that the representation of female top executives is negatively related to both accounting and market performance, suggesting that female representation is not associated with improved level of performance. From correlation analysis, our results also reveal that smaller firms, which tend to be family-controlled, are more likely to have higher proportion of female members on management boards. This implies …


The Ethics Of Shareholder Value: Duty, Rights & Football, Donald Nordberg Jan 2012

The Ethics Of Shareholder Value: Duty, Rights & Football, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

How does a board of directors decide what is right? The contest over this question is frequently framed as a debate between shareholder value and stakeholder rights, between a utilitarian view of the ethics of corporate governance and a deontological one. This paper uses a case study with special circumstances that allow us to examine the conflict between shareholder value and other bases on which a board can act. In the autumn of 2010 the board of Liverpool Football Club sold the company to another investing group against the wishes of the owners. The analysis suggests the board saw more …


"Because That's Where The Money Is": A Theory Of Corporate Legal Compliance, William Bradford Dec 2011

"Because That's Where The Money Is": A Theory Of Corporate Legal Compliance, William Bradford

william bradford

Upon his capture in 1934, the legendary bank robber Willie Sutton was asked by FBI agents, Why do you rob banks, Willie? Sutton, who believed the question to be rhetorical, replied, dryly, Because that's where the money is. In other words, Sutton understood his interrogator to be inquiring as to why he robbed banks rather than, say, homes, or gas stations, or church offering plates. Had he understood the query as intended - i.e., what was it about Willie Sutton the impelled Willie Sutton to crime when many others, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were not? - Sutton could …


Board Diversity And Firm Performance: The Indonesian Evidence, Salim Darmadi Jan 2011

Board Diversity And Firm Performance: The Indonesian Evidence, Salim Darmadi

Salim Darmadi

This paper examines the associations between diversity of board members and financial performance of the firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Three demographic characteristics of board members—gender, nationality, and age—are used as the proxies for diversity. Using a sample of 169 listed firms, this study finds that both accounting and market performance have significant negative associations with gender diversity. Nationality diversity is found to have no influence on firm performance. In contrast, the proportion of young members is positively related to market performance, providing evidence that young people in the boardrooms are associated with improved financial performance.


Corporate Governance: Principles And Issues, Donald Nordberg Jan 2011

Corporate Governance: Principles And Issues, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper is the first chapter of a book published by Sage Publications examining the principles considered in contesting theories of the field, and then the issues facing boards of directors in dealing with matters within the board, between boards and owners, between different types of owners, and then with the wider public. Taking a global outlook, the book also explores the role and limitations of transparency as a method of accountability before returning to the many unresolved questions in a field with an unsettled and perhaps unsettling future. This first chapter sets the stage with discussion of Lehman Brothers …


La Riforma Del Controllo Contabile Delle Societa’ In Italia: “Schede Di Lettura” Del Decreto Legislativo 39/2010 In Tema Di Svolgimento Della Revisione Legale Dei Conti, Claudio Sottoriva Jun 2010

La Riforma Del Controllo Contabile Delle Societa’ In Italia: “Schede Di Lettura” Del Decreto Legislativo 39/2010 In Tema Di Svolgimento Della Revisione Legale Dei Conti, Claudio Sottoriva

Claudio Sottoriva

Il contributo offre una prima lettura delle novità apportate dal Decreto Legislativo n. 39/2010 attuativo della Direttiva 2006/43/CE, relativa alle revisioni legali dei conti annuali e dei conti consolidati. La disciplina dello svolgimento della attività di revisione legale dei conti trova quindi ora riferimenti normativi nelle norme del Codice Civile e in alcune norme speciali (principalmente nel T.U.F.) nonché per quanto non diversamente disciplinato nel Decreto 39/2010. La disciplina è destinata a trovare completamento con l'emanazione di specifici regolamenti attuativi del Decreto da parte del Ministero dell'Economia e delle finanze nonché da altre Autorità (Consob, Banca d'Italia, etc.). L'analisi consente …


Review Essay: Disagreeing About The Climate, Donald Nordberg Jan 2009

Review Essay: Disagreeing About The Climate, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper is an early draft of a review essay that subsequently appeared in the journal Business and Society in 2010. The science concerning climate change is clear, both sides of the argument agree. What they don't agree about is what that clarity means. Each side considers the matter settled, and their points of view unsettle each attempt to make public policy. Mike Hulme, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, thinks the reasons for the persistent differences lies in the complex ways we see and use climate change as a totem …


Some Are More Equal: The Politics Of Shareholder Activism, Donald Nordberg Jan 2008

Some Are More Equal: The Politics Of Shareholder Activism, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper is an early draft of a chapter in the book Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice (H. Kent Baker and Ronald Anderson, eds.) published by Wiley in 2010. Shareholder activism is an exercise of power, sometime benign, sometimes threatening to the interests of corporate management, boards and other shareholders. The complexity of these combinations helps to understand how difficult it is for directors to operate in shareholders' interest. What we see, particularly in relation to the growth of hedge-fund activism, is greater dispersion of shareholder interests and growing questions about the legitimacy of how those …


News And Corporate Governance: What Dow Jones And Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship, Donald Nordberg Aug 2007

News And Corporate Governance: What Dow Jones And Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper in an early draft of an article that appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism in 2007. The outcomes of near simultaneous bids for the news organizations Reuters Group plc and Dow Jones & Co. Inc. in 2007 hinged on mechanisms of corporate governance put in place at each company to protect the integrity and independence of the editorial operations. Neither company is a particularly model of good governance, since the restrictions – super-voting shares at DJ, veto-power by the trustees of the Founders Share Company at Reuters – almost completely rule out an open market for corporate …


The Ethics Of Corporate Governance, Donald Nordberg Jul 2007

The Ethics Of Corporate Governance, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper is an early draft of an article that appeared in the Journal of General Management in 2008. How should corporate directors determine what is the "right" decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from "ethical" investors, to do the "good" thing when they seek to make the "right" choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' …


Rebalancing The Board's Agenda, Donald Nordberg Jun 2007

Rebalancing The Board's Agenda, Donald Nordberg

Donald Nordberg

This paper is a draft of an article published in the Journal of General Management in 2007. Since the corporate governance scandals of 2001 and 2002, the work of boards of directors has been dominated by board processes and compliance, with a corresponding reduction in the emphasis on value creation. This discussion paper proposes a model for board activities and raises questions about how they can be rebalanced to provide greater emphasis on the board's strategic advisory role. It also looks at European governance issues, including the role of dual boards.


Board Interlocking Strategies In Emerging Markets: The Case Of Chile, Alfredo Enrione, Fernanzdo Zerboni Jan 2007

Board Interlocking Strategies In Emerging Markets: The Case Of Chile, Alfredo Enrione, Fernanzdo Zerboni

Alfredo Enrione

Interlocking directorates is a widely studied, applied measure of governance practice. Most of the research has been limited to data from developed countries and studies interlocking as an explanatory variable of other governance constructs. This work conceptualizes interlocking as a rational decision of the owner/controller of a company, as a dependent variable of board’s design, and applies the concepts in an emerging market business environment. We found significant associations between interlocking and firm characteristics such as ownership structure, industry and regulation. We finally draw some conclusions on the direct application of corporate governance theories in developing countries.