Corporate Governance after the Financial Crisis

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AFTER THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, P.M. Vasudev, Susan Watson, eds., Edward Elgar Ltd., 2012

22 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2012 Last revised: 28 Jun 2013

See all articles by P. M. Vasudev

P. M. Vasudev

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Susan Watson

University of Auckland Business School; European Corporate Governance Institute

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

The Financial Crisis of 2008–09 raises questions about the assumptions that underpin corporate governance. Shareholder value and private ordering may not in fact be the best means of promoting efficiency and corporate responsibility, and the mechanisms that have been traditionally used to ensure management accountability may not be effective. “Corporate Governance after the Financial Crisis” (Edward Elgar, 2012) is a volume that brings together experts from around the world to draw on the experience of the Financial Crisis to explore topical issues in corporate governance. These range from shareholder primacy and the corporate objective to the stakeholder principle, business ethics, and convergence in, or globalization of, corporate governance principles.

This paper is the introduction to the volume, provided by its editors. The introduction begins with an overview of the developments in corporate governance in the recent decades, from shareholder value and private ordering in the era of deregulation, and the proclamation of “end of history” in corporate law, moving on to the events after Enron, WorldCom et al, and more recently the Financial Crisis of 2008-09. This is followed by outlines of the chapters included in the volume, which covers a range of jurisdictions – namely, US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and Taiwan.

A goal of the volume is to underscore the reality that our understanding of fundamental questions of corporate governance is still developing, and to demonstrate that the corporate governance debate is far from over. In doing so, the volume deals with a diverse set of subjects such as emerging ideas about shareholder primacy (US), public-private models of regulation to promote corporate responsibility (US), business ethics (New Zealand) and the nature of directors’ powers (UK).

Keywords: corporate governance, corporate law, shareholder primacy, derivative actions, board of directors, business ethics, stakeholder principle, Malaysia, insolvency law, market-oriented blockholder, corporate purpose, Taiwan, independent directors, public-private methods, New Zealand, Canada

JEL Classification: K22

Suggested Citation

Vasudev, P. M. and Watson, Susan Mary, Corporate Governance after the Financial Crisis (2012). CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AFTER THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, P.M. Vasudev, Susan Watson, eds., Edward Elgar Ltd., 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2009076

P. M. Vasudev (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada
613-562-5800 (Phone)
613-562-5124 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/en/people/vasudev-pm

Susan Mary Watson

University of Auckland Business School ( email )

12 Grafton Rd
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, 1010
New Zealand

European Corporate Governance Institute ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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