Corporate Governance

Lecturer:  Dr Sue Konzelmann
Assessment: This module will be assessed via coursework only (deadline: Thursday, 8th December 2011, Absolute Cut-Off deadline, 29th December 2011)

Aims

The main aims of this module are to help students:

• develop a critical understanding of the nature, behaviour and outcomes associated with the social, economic, political and legal systems that govern organizations in the private, public and third sectors;
• understand the mechanisms of governance within organizations as well as the key roles and relationships through which corporate governance is realised;
• examine similarities and differences across national systems of corporate governance;
• recognise key pressures for reform in national corporate governance systems;
• appreciate some of the ethical issues that arise in relation to corporate activity.

Learning objectives

Learning objectives include:

• knowledge and understanding of the operation of systems of corporate governance at various levels of analysis;
• knowledge and understanding of the shared and competing social, economic and political principles and values upon which behaviour and outcomes in the corporate governance system are based; and
• knowledge and understanding of the pressures associated with tendencies towards and away from convergence in corporate governance systems at various levels of analysis.

Content

Corporate governance is concerned with issues of the ownership, control and accountability. It raises some key issues: for example, in the context of a corporation, how should the interests of directors, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders be prioritized and how can these interests be expressed, aligned and reconciled? More broadly, with the globalization of product and capital markets, how can economic interests and objectives be reconciled with social and political interests in equity, distributional justice and environmental sustainability? How do national corporate governance systems differ and what are the implications of this for economic performance and sustainability? Are we seeing convergence or divergence of national systems as a consequence of globalisation?  Systems of Corporate Governance is a core module through which these questions are explored by placing the corporate pursuit of economic objectives in a wider societal context.

Background reading

• Clarke, T.  (2005) Theories of Corporate Governance.  London:  Routledge.
• Clarke, T. (2008) International Corporate Governance: A Comparative Approach.  .  London:  Routledge.