Corporate Governance

Understanding Corporate Governance

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The system of corporate governance in the United States is a moving target. Although the U.S. is often taken as a key benchmark for shareholder-oriented corporate govern- ance and sometimes also equated with a “model” for good corporate governance, inter- national audiences have often failed to appreciate the continuous evolution and debates in the U.S. itself regarding the reality of corporate governance in practice.
This report was commissioned by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation as an attempt to par- tially fill this gap in order to provide a more complete view of the U.S. debates and better assess the influence of recent developments on Europe and Germany, in par- ticular. This task proved more challenging than was initially anticipated. While the historic legislative turning-point of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act was already in place, empirical evidence on the influence of SOX only began to emerge after the research for this report already began. The downpour of new studies also presented a puzzling picture, showing important aspects of change and continuity that defied both support- ers and critics of the legislation. In following this development, many people supported this project with advice, comments, logistical help, and their patience. Several deserve particular thanks – Masahiko Aoki, John Cioffi, Nicola Ebert, Ronald Gilson, Howard Gospel, Bruce Kogut, Richard Marens, Karsten Schneider and Sigurt Vitols.
Before the dust of the post-SOX debates could settle, U.S. corporate governance now faces another historic cross-roads through the onset of the banking crisis and resulting financial and economic crisis, which was marked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. While the work of social scientists seems to always remain one step behind the developments of the real world, I hope that this report helps put the current crisis into a longer term perspective of how U.S. corporate governance has evolved both in terms of a theoretical ideal and as a more complex set of practices. Once again, corporate governance practices in the United States are open for debate, their future up for grabs, and the “model“ remains incomplete.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Understanding Corporate Governance

Call Number

-

Publisher

: ., 2010

Collation

1-91

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Governance

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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