Good governance, A Guide to the Big Ideas and Debates in Corporate Governance
Corporate governance has become a topic of broad public interest as the power of institutional investors has increased and the impact of corporations on society has grown. Yet ideas about how corporations should be governed vary widely. People disagree, for example, on such basic matters as the purpose of the corporation, the role of corporate boards of directors, the rights of shareholders, and the proper way to measure corporate performance. The issue of whose interests should be considered in corporate decision making is particularly contentious, with some authorities giving primacy to shareholders’ interest in maximizing their financial returns and others arguing that shareholders’ other interests — in corporate strategy, executive compensation, and environmental policies, for example — and the interests of other parties must be respected as well. Read More