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Articles 1 - 30 of 157
Full-Text Articles in Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics
When Corporate Culture Matters: The Case Of Stakeholder Violations, Rashid Zaman
When Corporate Culture Matters: The Case Of Stakeholder Violations, Rashid Zaman
Research outputs 2022 to 2026
This study examines whether and how a strong corporate culture influences stakeholder violations. Using a longitudinal sample of monetary penalties imposed on US-listed firms for stakeholder violations, I find evidence that a strong corporate culture is significantly and negatively associated with such violations. This outcome remains robust to a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, including the application of the generalized method of moments (GMM), entropy balancing, and propensity score matching (PSM) estimation. The channel analysis evidence implies that information asymmetry is a possible mechanism through which a strong corporate culture is associated with stakeholder violations. A cross-sectional analysis demonstrates …
Expanding Mfw: Delaware Law Should Offer A Business Judgment Rule Safe Harbor For All Conflicted Controller Transactions, Alex Lindsey
Expanding Mfw: Delaware Law Should Offer A Business Judgment Rule Safe Harbor For All Conflicted Controller Transactions, Alex Lindsey
Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law
While courts usually defer to a board’s business decisions under the business judgment rule, courts will apply a much less deferential standard of review due to loyalty concerns if a conflicted controller is involved in a business decision such as a merger. However, in Kahn v. M & F Worldwide (“MFW”) when a squeeze out merger was challenged by a minority stockholder, the Delaware Supreme Court reviewed the transaction under the deferential business judgment rule standard because the Court found that the structure of the transaction neutralized the controller loyalty concerns. Building on this reasoning, the Court developed a checklist …
The Problem With The “Non-Class” Class: An Urgent Call For Improved Gatekeepers In Merger Objection Litigation, Josh Molder
The Problem With The “Non-Class” Class: An Urgent Call For Improved Gatekeepers In Merger Objection Litigation, Josh Molder
Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law
Until recently, class actions dominated merger objection litigation. However, plaintiff’s lawyers have constructed a “non-class” class where an individual suit can benefit from the leverage of a certified class without ever meeting the stringent class certification requirements of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23. This new development has initiated a shift in merger objection litigation where plaintiffs are increasingly filing individual suits instead of class actions. However, this shift has left shareholders vulnerable to collusive settlements because plaintiff’s attorneys have significant control over these suits and a strong incentive to settle quickly for a substantial fee. Additionally, corporate defendants are …
Death Of A Corporation: How A Seemingly Innocuous Probate Provision Can Fundamentally Undermine The Corporate Form, Kenya Jh Smith
Death Of A Corporation: How A Seemingly Innocuous Probate Provision Can Fundamentally Undermine The Corporate Form, Kenya Jh Smith
William & Mary Business Law Review
Imagine that you are assisting the surviving shareholders and officers of a corporation in settling affairs with the estate of a deceased shareholder. In a corporate governance dispute that ensues, the estate representative uses a seemingly innocuous probate provision allowing him to “continue any business” of the deceased to petition the probate court for direct control of the corporation. You find that there is little statutory or jurisprudential guidance on coordinating that probate provision with longstanding corporate governance requirements that directors, not shareholders, directly manage corporate affairs. This Article explores the unintended consequences of allowing a misplaced but literal reading …
Is "Public Company" Still A Viable Regulatory Category?, George S. Georgiev
Is "Public Company" Still A Viable Regulatory Category?, George S. Georgiev
Faculty Articles
This Article suggests that the ubiquitous “public company” regulatory category, as currently constructed, has outlived its effectiveness in fulfilling core goals of the modern administrative state. An ever-expanding array of federal economic regulation hinges on public company status, but “public company” differs from most other regulatory categories in that it requires an affirmative opt-in by the subject entity. In practice, firms today become subject to public company regulation only if they need access to the public capital markets, which is much less of a business imperative than it once was due to the proliferation of private financing options. Paradoxically, then, …
Reframing The Dei Case, Veronica Root Martinez
Reframing The Dei Case, Veronica Root Martinez
Faculty Scholarship
Corporate firms have long expressed their support for the idea that their organizations should become more demographically diverse while creating a culture that is inclusive of all members of the firm. These firms have traditionally, however, not been successful at improving demographic diversity and true inclusion within the upper echelons of their organizations. The status quo seemed unlikely to move, but expectations for corporate firms were upended after the #MeToo Movement of 2017 and 2018, which was followed by corporate support of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement in 2020. These two social movements, while distinct in many ways, forced firms to rethink …
Explicating The Influence Of Religion In Forming Corporate Governance: Insights From The Philippines, Leveric T. Ng, John Paolo Rivera
Explicating The Influence Of Religion In Forming Corporate Governance: Insights From The Philippines, Leveric T. Ng, John Paolo Rivera
Graduate School of Business Publications
Religion plays a role in shaping personal values and directing an organization’s moral filter. It is an avenue to impose social morality that may impact corporate governance. We examined the influence of religion in the formation and development of good corporate governance through ethical leadership in the Philippines – a country that has strong religious culture. Invalidating scholarly literature on religion and enterprise; we looked into the conception and interpretation of religion and corporate governance through a key informant interview of 30 executive directors from private corporations in the country.We found that corporate governance may arise from religious convictions; where …
Board Demographic, Structural Diversity, And Eco-Innovation: International Evidence, Rashid Zaman, Kaveh Asiaei, Muhammad Nadeem, Ihtisham Malik, Muhammad Arif
Board Demographic, Structural Diversity, And Eco-Innovation: International Evidence, Rashid Zaman, Kaveh Asiaei, Muhammad Nadeem, Ihtisham Malik, Muhammad Arif
Research outputs 2022 to 2026
Research question/issue: We examine whether and how board diversity, measured by demographics (i.e., board gender, cultural diversity, tenure, social capital, expertise, and age) and structural diversity (i.e., board independence, size, board seat accumulation-chair, board compensation, and board meeting frequency), influence corporate eco-innovation. Research findings/insights: Utilizing a global sample of publicly listed companies for the period 2004–2019, we find that a one-standard deviation increase in demographic and structural diversity translates into 4.66% and 7.11% higher corporate eco-innovation, respectively. Furthermore, we discover that demographic and structural diversity promotes eco-innovation by offsetting the negative effects of political risk. In an additional analysis, we …
Dynamic Disclosure: An Exposé On The Mythical Divide Between Voluntary And Mandatory Esg Disclosure, Lisa Fairfax
Dynamic Disclosure: An Exposé On The Mythical Divide Between Voluntary And Mandatory Esg Disclosure, Lisa Fairfax
All Faculty Scholarship
In March 2022, for the first time in its history, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed rules mandating disclosure related to climate change. The proposed rules are remarkable because heretofore many in the business community, including the SEC, vehemently resisted climate-related disclosure, based primarily on the argument that such disclosure is not material to investors. This resistance is exemplified by the current lack of any SEC disclosure mandates for climate change. The proposed rules have sparked considerable pushback including allegations that the rules violate the First Amendment, would be too costly, and focus on “social” or “political” issues …
Purpose Proposals, Jill E. Fisch
Purpose Proposals, Jill E. Fisch
All Faculty Scholarship
Repurposing the corporation is the hot issue in corporate governance. Commentators, investors and increasingly issuers, maintain that corporations should shift their focus from maximizing profits for shareholders to generating value for a more expansive group of stakeholders. Corporations are also being called upon to address societal concerns – from climate change and voting rights to racial justice and wealth inequality.
The shareholder proposal rule, Rule 14a–8, offers one potential tool for repurposing the corporation. This Article describes the introduction of innovative proposals seeking to formalize corporate commitments to stakeholder governance. These “purpose proposals” reflect a new dynamic in the debate …
Board Committee Charters And Esg Accountability, Lisa Fairfax
Board Committee Charters And Esg Accountability, Lisa Fairfax
All Faculty Scholarship
We are currently witnessing a sharp increase in corporate attention on environmental, sustainability, and governance (“ESG”). The steep rise in corporate focus on ESG has prompted considerable criticism, not only from those concerned about how best to ensure that corporations are held accountable for their ESG commitments, but also from those who strenuously insist that corporate commitment to ESG is merely rhetorical or otherwise merely a passing fad. In an effort to shed light on the concerns around ESG accountability, and gain perspective about the potential illusory or short-term nature of ESG, I conducted my own survey of the committee …
Yung Kee: A Roast Goose Chase, Singapore Management University
Yung Kee: A Roast Goose Chase, Singapore Management University
Perspectives@SMU
How a Hong Kong culinary landmark emerged stronger following a bitter family feud over succession disputes
Accounting Scandals And Implications For Directors: Lessons From Enron, Pearl Hock-Neo Tan, Gillian Yeo
Accounting Scandals And Implications For Directors: Lessons From Enron, Pearl Hock-Neo Tan, Gillian Yeo
Research Collection School Of Accountancy
We analyze the Enron case to identify the risk factors that potentially led to its collapse and specific issues relating to its aggressive accounting and high-light the lessons for independent directors. In Enron, the interactions between external stimuli, strategies, corporate culture, and risk exposures possibly created an explosive situation that eventually led to its demise. Much of the post-Enron reforms have been directed towards regulating the roles and responsibilities of executive directors and auditors. However, the role of independent directors has received relatively lesser attention. Independent directors should analyze the risks of their companies and understand the pressures that arise …
The Uncertain Stewardship Potential Of Index Funds, Jill E. Fisch
The Uncertain Stewardship Potential Of Index Funds, Jill E. Fisch
All Faculty Scholarship
Regulators and commentators around the world are increasingly demanding that institutional investors engage in stewardship with respect to their portfolio companies. Further, the demand for stewardship has broadened from an expectation that investors engage to reduce agency costs and promote economic value to a call for investors to demand that companies serve a broader range of societal interests and objectives. This chapter considers calls for stewardship in the context of the U.S. capital markets specifically as applied to index funds. It argues that, irrespective of the merits of institutional stewardship generally, the structure of index funds and the business environment …
Corporate Governance Meets Corporate Social Responsibility: Mapping The Interface, Rashid Zaman, Tanusree Jain, Georges Samara, Dima Jamali
Corporate Governance Meets Corporate Social Responsibility: Mapping The Interface, Rashid Zaman, Tanusree Jain, Georges Samara, Dima Jamali
Research outputs 2014 to 2021
Despite ample research on corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is a lack of consensus on the nature of the relationship between these two concepts and on how this relationship manifests across institutional contexts. Drawing on the national business systems approach, this article systematically reviews 218 research articles published over a 27-year period to map how CG–CSR research has evolved and progressed theoretically and methodologically across different institutional contexts. To shed light on the full gamut of the CG–CSR relationship, we categorize and explore the nature of this relationship along two strands: (a) CSR as a function …
Impact Measurement And Standards, Angeline Chua, Hao Liang, Wanyi Yang
Impact Measurement And Standards, Angeline Chua, Hao Liang, Wanyi Yang
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
Despite rapid economic growth and increasing interest in impact investment worldwide, less attention has been paid to the question of whether this growth is sustainable for people and the planet. In an ideal scenario, growth would happen within planetary and social boundaries. However, current financial value is often prioritised and achieved at cost to society and the environment. For example, small farmers in Indonesia have long practised slash-and-burn agriculture, and in recent decades large companies have industrialised the practice. The peatland blazes in Indonesia release smoke and large amounts of greenhouse gases, which impact both Indonesia itself, and neighbouring countries …
Judicial Review Of Directors' Duty Of Care: A Comparison Between U.S. & China, Zhaoyi Li
Judicial Review Of Directors' Duty Of Care: A Comparison Between U.S. & China, Zhaoyi Li
Articles
Articles 147 and 148 of the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (“Chinese Company Law”) establish that directors owe a duty of care to their companies. However, both of these provisions fail to explain the role of judicial review in enforcing directors’ duty of care. The duty of care is a well-trodden territory in the United States, where directors’ liability is predicated on specific standards. The current American standard, adopted by many states, requires directors to “discharge their duties with the care that a person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances.” However, both …
Repurposing The Corporation Through Stakeholder Markets, Lynn M. Lopucki
Repurposing The Corporation Through Stakeholder Markets, Lynn M. Lopucki
UF Law Faculty Publications
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is immensely popular. Rhetorically, nearly all public corporations have committed to it. But corporations don’t act responsibly. That is because no system exists by which their responsibility levels can be measured and rewarded or punished. Thousands of organizations worldwide are engaged in a cooperative effort to build such a system. After two decades of work, the system is almost entirely in place. It may become effective in the next two to three years. When it does, the system will continually measure and report publicly as many as a thousand audited data points on the CSR of …
Stakeholderism, Corporate Purpose, And Credible Commitment, Lisa Fairfax
Stakeholderism, Corporate Purpose, And Credible Commitment, Lisa Fairfax
All Faculty Scholarship
One of the most significant recent phenomena in corporate governance is the embrace, by some of the most influential actors in the corporate community, of the view that corporations should be focused on furthering the interests of all corporate stakeholders as well as the broader society. This stakeholder vision of corporate purpose is not new. Instead, it has emerged in cycles throughout corporate law history. However, for much of that history—including recent history—the consensus has been that stakeholderism has not achieved dominance or otherwise significantly influenced corporate behavior. That honor is reserved for the corporate purpose theory that focuses on …
Consistencies And Inconsistencies In The Application And Mechanisms Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study Approach To Seeking Clarification, Melissa Cook
Theses and Dissertations
While the idea of corporate responsibility emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, awareness of the ideas that comprise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increased over the last few years. Although there are numerous CSR reviews published, and despite increasing public awareness regarding CSR, a unified definition and framework remain elusive. The problem is that many leaders do not understand CSR and are simply not integrating it into their strategic management process. The purpose of this qualitative research case study was to explore and examine consistencies and inconsistencies in the application and mechanisms of CSR by examining the extent that CSR …
Stealth Governance: Shareholder Agreements And Private Ordering, Jill E. Fisch
Stealth Governance: Shareholder Agreements And Private Ordering, Jill E. Fisch
All Faculty Scholarship
Corporate law has embraced private ordering -- tailoring a firm’s corporate governance to meet its individual needs. Firms are increasingly adopting firm-specific governance through dual-class voting structures, forum selection provisions and tailored limitations on the duty of loyalty. Courts have accepted these provisions as consistent with the contractual theory of the firm, and statutes, in many cases, explicitly endorse their use. Commentators too support private ordering for its capacity to facilitate innovation and enhance efficiency.
Private ordering typically occurs through firm-specific charter and bylaw provisions. VC-funded startups, however, frequently use an alternative tool – shareholder agreements. These agreements, which have …
The Diversity Risk Paradox, Veronica Root Martinez
The Diversity Risk Paradox, Veronica Root Martinez
Faculty Scholarship
There is a growing body of literature discussing the proper role of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts by and within public firms. A combination of forces brought renewed energy to this topic over the past few years. The #MeToo movement demonstrated a whole host of inequities faced by women within workplaces. Business Roundtable’s 2019 Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation rejected the view that the purpose of the corporation was solely to be focused on the maximization of shareholder wealth. And, in 2020, the murder of George Floyd ignited a racial reckoning within the United States, which prompted many …
Enabling Esg Accountability: Focusing On The Corporate Enterprise, Rachel Brewster
Enabling Esg Accountability: Focusing On The Corporate Enterprise, Rachel Brewster
Faculty Scholarship
Environmental, social, and governance accountability for companies has become an important topic in popular and academic debate in modern society. The idea that corporations should have ESG goals has been embraced by major investment companies, employees, and many corporations themselves. Yet, less attention has been focused on how corporate enterprise law—which governs how corporations structure their relationships between parent corporations and their subsidiaries—creates or contributes to the ESG concerns that the public has with corporations in the first place. Modern enterprise law allows corporations, particularly those operating across national borders, to use their subsidiaries to avoid responsibility for their public …
Optimizing The World’S Leading Corporate Law: A 20-Year Retrospective And Look Ahead, Lawrence Hamermesh, Jack B. Jacobs, Leo E. Strine Jr.
Optimizing The World’S Leading Corporate Law: A 20-Year Retrospective And Look Ahead, Lawrence Hamermesh, Jack B. Jacobs, Leo E. Strine Jr.
All Faculty Scholarship
In a 2001 article (Function Over Form: A Reassessment of Standards of Review in Delaware Corporation Law) two of us, with important input from the other, argued that in addressing issues like hostile takeovers, assertive institutional investors, leveraged buyouts, and contested ballot questions, the Delaware courts had done exemplary work but on occasion crafted standards of review that unduly encouraged litigation and did not appropriately credit intra-corporate procedures designed to ensure fairness. Function Over Form suggested ways to make those standards more predictable, encourage procedures that better protected stockholders, and discourage meritless litigation, by restoring business judgment rule …
The Financial Impact Of Gender Diversity On Corporate Boards, Elizabeth Hamilton
The Financial Impact Of Gender Diversity On Corporate Boards, Elizabeth Hamilton
Undergraduate Theses
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and firm financial performance, using a data set of 50 S&P 500 companies during 2015-2019. Gender diversity was measured through the percentage of women on the board and whether the board has a “critical mass” (of at least three women). In the results of the regression analyses, some significant relationships between variables were found. The regression between ROA and the percentage of women indicated a positive, significant relationship for ROA to the percentage of women. For the regression between ROA and the critical mass variable, no significant …
The “Value” Of A Public Benefit Corporation, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon
The “Value” Of A Public Benefit Corporation, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon
All Faculty Scholarship
We examine the “value” a PBC form provides for publicly-traded corporations. We analyze the structure of the PBC form and find that other than requiring a designated social purpose it does not differ significantly in siting control and direction with shareholders. We also examine the purpose statements in the charters of the most economically significant PBCs. We find that, independent of structural limitations on accountability, these purpose statements are, in most cases, too vague and aspirational to be legally significant, or even to serve as a reliable checks on PBC behavior. We theorize, and provide evidence, that without a legal …
Just Say Yes? The Fiduciary Duty Implications Of Directorial Acquiescence, Lisa Fairfax
Just Say Yes? The Fiduciary Duty Implications Of Directorial Acquiescence, Lisa Fairfax
All Faculty Scholarship
The rise in shareholder activism is one of the most significant recent phenomena in corporate governance. Shareholders have successfully managed to enhance their power within the corporation, and much of that success has resulted from corporate managers and directors voluntarily acceding to shareholder demands. Directors’ voluntary acquiescence to shareholder demands is quite simply remarkable. Remarkable because most of the changes reflect policies and practices that directors have vehemently opposed for decades, and because when opposing such changes directors stridently insisted that the changes were not in the corporation’s best interest. In light of that insistence, and numerous statements from directors …
Lifting Labor’S Voice: A Principled Path Toward Greater Worker Voice And Power Within American Corporate Governance, Leo E. Strine Jr., Aneil Kovvali, Oluwatomi O. Williams
Lifting Labor’S Voice: A Principled Path Toward Greater Worker Voice And Power Within American Corporate Governance, Leo E. Strine Jr., Aneil Kovvali, Oluwatomi O. Williams
All Faculty Scholarship
In view of the decline in gain sharing by corporations with American workers over the last forty years, advocates for American workers have expressed growing interest in allowing workers to elect representatives to corporate boards. Board level representation rights have gained appeal because they are a highly visible part of codetermination regimes that operate in several successful European economies, including Germany’s, in which workers have fared better.
But board-level representation is just one part of the comprehensive codetermination regulatory strategy as it is practiced abroad. Without a coherent supporting framework that includes representation from the ground up, as is provided …
Equality Metrics, Veronica Root Martinez, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher
Equality Metrics, Veronica Root Martinez, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher
Faculty Scholarship
This time is different. This time the death of another Black man at the hands of white police officers prompted calls for change not only within police departments, but across all aspects of American life. Those calls for change resulted in significant displays of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and interest in how to eliminate systemic racism and promote racial diversity and justice within one’s daily life and workplace. For the most part, corporations were quick to publicly align themselves with the movement. When carefully examined, however, many of the statements issued by corporations in support of the …
The History And Revival Of The Corporate Purpose Clause, Elizabeth Pollman
The History And Revival Of The Corporate Purpose Clause, Elizabeth Pollman
All Faculty Scholarship
The corporate purpose debate is experiencing a renaissance. The contours of the modern debate are relatively well developed and typically focus on whether corporations should pursue shareholder value maximization or broader social aims. A related subject that has received much less scholarly attention, however, is the formal legal mechanism by which a corporation expresses its purpose—the purpose clause of the corporate charter. This Article examines corporate purpose through the evolution of corporate charters. Starting with historic examples ranging from the Dutch East India Company to early American corporations and their modern 21st century parallels, the discussion illuminates how corporate purpose …