The Modern Firm, Corporate Governance and Investment


Book Description

This book explores the revolutionary development of the theory of the firm over the past 35 years. Despite rapid progress in the field, new developments in the microeconomic and industrial organization literature have been relatively scant. This book attempts to redress the balance by providing a comprehensive overview of the theory of the firm before moving on to explore firms and the organization of their economic activities. The contributors investigate the impact of ownership structure and board composition on firm performance, and examine how the institutional framework of an economy affects investment decisions. More specifically, detailed studies of topics including contracts, authority, competence blocs, institutional impacts and corporate governance mechanisms are presented. This unique blend of financial economics and industrial organization perspectives on the corporate firm will prove a stimulating read for scholars and researchers of economics, business administration and law.




The Modern Firm


Book Description

Business firms around the world are experimenting with new organizational designs, changing their formal architectures, their routines and processes, and their corporate cultures as they seek to improve their current performance and their growth prospects. In the process they are changing the scope of their business operations, redrawing their organization charts, redefining the allocation of decision-making authority and responsibility, revamping the mechanisms for motivating and rewarding people, reconsidering which activities to conduct in-house and which to out-source, redesigning their information systems, and seeking to alter the shared beliefs, values and norms that their people hold. In this book, John Roberts argues that there are predictable, necessary relationships among these changes that will improve performance and growth. The organizations that are successful will establish patterns of fit among the elements of their organizational designs, their competitive strategies and the external environment in which they operate and will go about this in a holistic manner. The Modern Firm develops powerful conceptual frameworks for analyzing the interrelations between organizational design features, competitive strategy and the business environment. Written in a non-technical language, the book is nevertheless based on rigorous modeling and draws on numerous examples from eighteenth century fur trading companies to such modern firms such as BP and Nokia. Finally the book explores why these developments are happening now, pointing to the increase in global competition and changes in technology. Written by one of the world's leading economists and experts on business strategy and organization, The Modern Firm provides new insights into the changes going on in business today and will be of interest to academics, students and managers alike.




The Sustainable Company


Book Description

For the past two decades corporate governance reform in Europe has been guided by the ‘shareholder value’ model of the firm. That model has been discredited as one of the major causes of the financial and economic crisis. In a new book published by the ETUI an alternative approach to corporate governance is presented by members of the GOODCORP network of researchers and trade unionists. This new approach, entitled the Sustainable Company, draws on both traditional ‘stakeholder’ models of the firm and newer concerns with sustainability. The main elements of the Sustainable Company and the institutions needed to support it are presented. Key themes in the book are the need for worker ‘voice’ in corporate governance and for a binding legislative framework to promote sustainability. Individual chapters deal with the issues of worker involvement, employee shareholding, sustainability-oriented remuneration, international framework agreements, NGO-trade union relationships, reforming financial regulation and carbon taxes and emissions-trading schemes.




Ownership and Value Creation


Book Description

"Who owns the modern company? And how should owners behave? Rolf H. Carlsson brings a fresh eye and historical depth to the issue of ownership, management and value creation that every firm and its owners must consider." Frances Cairncross, Management Editor, The Economist "Rolf H. Carlsson gives a valuable historical review and illustrates with cases how active ownership has played an important role in company development...gives...interesting views on where corporate governance is heading and...advice on how to make it work well." Percy Barnevik, Chairman of ABB, AstraZeneca, Investor, and Sandvik; Director (non-exec.) of GM "The nuanced and rich analysis of ownership competence which can be found in Rolf H. Carlsson's book goes far beyond the traditional debate and provides truly interesting and valuable insights for investors, industrialists, entrepreneurs, and owners both in the private and the public sectors." Richard Normann, Professor, Chairman of SMG "Rolf H. Carlsson (analyses the) process...of (creating) long-term shareholder value...in which our model for corporate governance is key, and provides valuable insights into our approach to business." Marcus Wallenberg, CEO, Investor AB "Rolf H. Carlsson's...book on ownership (has been) eagerly awaited by the governance community. Carlsson is uniquely able to illumine those areas in which Swedish corporate structuring has been ahead of the world. It is a book that we all look forward to reading." Robert A. G. Monks, Principal, Lens Investment Management "Carlsson...outlines a powerful frame of reference and analytical tools to address issues of value creation and the role of active owners. This book is a significant contribution to the all-important issues of corporate governance. I was intrigued and pleased to read it." Richard H. Koppes, Jones Day and Stanford Law School; former General Counsel, CalPERS "...adds new perspectives by highlighting the demanding challenges of globalisation. A remarkable new book on the crucial issues of ownership and corporate governance." Dr R. Marsch-Barner, Senior Counsel, Deutsche Bank AG "This innovative book puts the spotlight on those who have the ultimate responsibility for corporate governance, the owners. It provides useful insight into the ways of effective ownership." Professor Jay W. Lorsch, Harvard Business School




Corporate Governance and Firm Organization


Book Description

Recent scandals involving large firms, in the USA and elsewhere, have brought into focus the role and conduct of major multinationals. This text looks at issues surrounding the organisation of such companies, and the ways in which it impacts on corporate governance.




Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment in Private Equity


Book Description

Private equity-backed companies are ubiquitous and economically significant. Consequently, the corporate governance of these companies matters to all of us, and – not surprisingly – is coming under increasing scrutiny. Simon Witney, a practicing private equity lawyer, positions private equity portfolio companies within existing academic theory and examines the laws that apply to them in the UK. He analyses the actual governance frameworks that are put in place and identifies problems created by the legal rules – as well as the market's solutions to them. This book not only explains why these governance mechanisms are established, but also what they are expected to achieve. Witney suggests that private equity owners have both the incentives and the capability to focus on responsible investment practices. Good governance, he argues, is a critical success factor for the private equity industry.




Political Power and Corporate Control


Book Description

Why does corporate governance--front page news with the collapse of Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat--vary so dramatically around the world? This book explains how politics shapes corporate governance--how managers, shareholders, and workers jockey for advantage in setting the rules by which companies are run, and for whom they are run. It combines a clear theoretical model on this political interaction, with statistical evidence from thirty-nine countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America and detailed narratives of country cases. This book differs sharply from most treatments by explaining differences in minority shareholder protections and ownership concentration among countries in terms of the interaction of economic preferences and political institutions. It explores in particular the crucial role of pension plans and financial intermediaries in shaping political preferences for different rules of corporate governance. The countries examined sort into two distinct groups: diffuse shareholding by external investors who pick a board that monitors the managers, and concentrated blockholding by insiders who monitor managers directly. Examining the political coalitions that form among or across management, owners, and workers, the authors find that certain coalitions encourage policies that promote diffuse shareholding, while other coalitions yield blockholding-oriented policies. Political institutions influence the probability of one coalition defeating another.




Corporate Governance, The Firm and Investor Capitalism


Book Description

The shift from managerial capitalism to investor capitalism, dominated by the finance industry and finance capital accumulation, is jointly caused by a variety of institutional, legal, political, and ideological changes, beginning with the 1970s’ downturn of the global economy. This book traces how the incorporation of businesses within the realm of the state leads to both certain benefits, characteristic of competitive capitalism, and to the emergence of new corporate governance problems emerges. Contrasting economic, legal, and managerial views of corporate governance practices in contemporary capitalism, the author examines how corporate governance has been understood and advocated differently during the New Deal era, the post-World War II economic boom, and the after 1980 in the era of free market advocacy.




Corporate Governance, Organization and the Firm


Book Description

In this reputable book Professor Morroni has constructed an insightful framework of three decisive factors for organizational coordination: capabilities, transaction, scale-scope. Based on these, he has knitted a splendid tapestry of theoretical and empirical information. This collection must be a standard for the theory of the firm. Yuji Aruka, Chuo University, Japan Organisations, networks and firms are three of the most dynamic areas of economic research. This timely book synthesises these areas in order to analyse emergent phenomena such as spatial clustering, outsourcing, relational complexity and radical technological innovation. A combination of authoritative literature reviews, novel theoretical developments and interesting case study applications makes this book essential reading for both new and established scholars in the field. Mark Casson, University of Reading, UK In recent years, applied studies have shown widespread, profound and increasing heterogeneity across firms in terms of their strategy, organization arrangement and performance. This book investigates the diversity of business firms, offering a picture of the different organizational settings they adopt in their endeavour to cope with increasing competitive pressure. The book addresses critical theoretical issues surrounding corporate governance, organizational design and cooperative relations among firms. Moreover, it provides new evidence on the various forms of outsourcing that are playing an increasingly important role as a consequence of globalization. The contributions collected in this book stress the emergence of a trend towards a reorganization of production that can enhance the transmission, development and maintenance of knowledge in order to sustain long-run competitive advantage. Providing original and pertinent empirical evidence, this book will attract interest from scholars and postgraduate students studying the economics and organization of the firm. It will also be of value to managers who wish to understand new developments in the organizational settings of business firms with particular reference to corporate governance, organizational design, cooperative relations, outsourcing and de-localization.




Corporate Governance 1e


Book Description

This exciting new text provides a complete introduction to Corporate Governance. It deals with the control and direction of companies by boards, owners and company law, and also looks at the mechanisms of governance and the different governance systems around the world. Part 1: is a non-technical overview of the relevant theories, governance mechanisms and the country models.Part 2: looks at some of the most important governance mechanisms in detail.Part 3: studies individual international corporate governance systems.Part 4: wraps up with a discussion on governance practices.