Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance
Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance

Author: Anna Donovan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-02-25

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1509918752

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This book offers a comprehensive examination of the issues surrounding corporate compliance. Should corporations comply with the spirit or the letter of the law? What role does compliance play in a capitalist market economy? Why is it that otherwise law-abiding citizens are willing to implement corporate compliance strategies that are seemingly at odds with their personal values? Dr Donovan responds to these questions and more, providing a persuasive argument for the legitimate role of spirited compliance within a market economy. In doing so, she employs the lens of classical liberal ideology, challenging the widespread view that technical compliance is simply 'capitalism.' In an examination that has relevance beyond the compliance arena, the author also explores how the architecture of the firm facilitates the often atypical compliance decisions that individuals make when acting within a corporate setting. The book draws on social psychology to offer important insights into how the often-elusive goal of corporate behavioural change can be achieved, for the benefit of both the market and society as a whole.

Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance
Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance

Author: Anna H. L. P. Donovan

Publisher: Hart Publishing

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781509918775

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"This book offers a comprehensive examination of the issues surrounding corporate compliance. Corporate compliance standards are often the subject of significant public debate. Recent media scrutiny of the tax strategies of complex multinationals revealed that, notwithstanding prior scandals such as Enron, Worldcom and Parmalat, corporations continue to adopt compliance practices that, whilst technically legal, fundamentally undermine the intention (or spirit) of the law. However, the question of corporate compliance is not simply a matter of fiscal policy but goes to the core of our understanding of corporate responsibility within society. As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, and as we continue to bear witness, these matters remain of fundamental and pressing importance. Yet why is it that technical compliance is so widely rejected by society yet so widely adopted and defended by corporate actors? Why is it that regulatory responses to each corporate scandal seem unable to prevent future transgressions? Why is it that otherwise law-abiding citizens act contrary to their personal values when making compliance decisions within a corporation? In this book, Dr Donovan responds to these questions by providing a persuasive argument for the legitimate role of spirited compliance within a market economy. In doing so, she employs the lens of classical liberal ideology, challenging the widespread view that technical compliance is simply 'capitalism.' However, finding a normative foundation for spirited compliance only addresses one part of the problem. In an examination that has relevance beyond the compliance arena, the author also explores why and how corporate architecture contributes to the often atypical decisions that individuals make when acting within a corporate environment. The book draws upon behavioural psychology to answer this question and offers insights into how the often-elusive goal of corporate behavioural change can be achieved"--

Corporate Group Legitimacy
Corporate Group Legitimacy

Author: Peter Underwood

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-08-01

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1040096425

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This book focuses on the legitimacy of corporate power wielded by corporate groups, integrating legal doctrine, economic analysis, and theoretical approaches. It reassesses how corporate groups can maintain legitimacy whilst exercising corporate power. Corporate groups are a prominent commercial feature of many jurisdictions and present unique challenges. The book argues that when analysed through the lens of corporate social responsibility, a legitimacy deficiency emerges. This arises from a lack of historical debate, diluted control mechanisms, and inflated growth, utilising unique features of the corporate group. It explores how the magnified power of the corporate group presents acute challenges for corporate legitimacy. Data is utilised alongside current examples of corporate groups which identify structural architectural patterns. It explores new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and blockchain as ways of attaining legitimacy. It presents methods of attaining legitimacy for the continued wielding of power to be held within corporate groups. This book spans several research interests under the corporate law umbrella. It will be of interest to traditional black letter company lawyers. Additionally, it will be of interest to those who have an interest in business and those who are interested in the role of technology.

Corporate Opportunities
Corporate Opportunities

Author: Marco Claudio Corradi

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1509917462

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This monograph provides a comprehensive analysis of corporate opportunities doctrines from a comparative perspective. It looks at both common law and civil law rules and relies to a large extent on a law and economics approach. This book broadens the conventional view on corporate opportunities, a vital step in light of the adoption of corporate opportunities rules in civil law jurisdictions and in light of investors' ever-changing strategies. This approach considers institutional complementarities and especially industrial complementarities. The book thus explores several jurisdictions and their economic and industrial environments, whilst also assessing the impact of globalisation onto legal reform. Furthermore, it analyses the problems related to the application of corporate opportunities rules to cross-border venture capital. In normative terms, the book advances one main stance, articulated in three points: first, it proposes different sanctions for undisclosed and disclosed misappropriations, supporting the core idea that sanctions should be set against disclosure and not authorisation. Secondly, it advances the idea that sanctions against undisclosed misappropriations should be more severe than the ones presently applied. Thirdly, it considers the possibility of a more flexible treatment of disclosed misappropriations. This study is positioned at the intersection of several fields, providing a lens into a much broader range of dynamics that will be of interest to a varied international readership, and offering a window into the broader institutional dynamics at work in centres of innovation (eg Silicon Valley and industrial districts in other jurisdictions). It is rooted in law and economics, but the emphasis is placed on how corporate opportunities rules fit within a broader set of institutional dynamics that affect innovation, industrial efficiency, and economic competitiveness.

Activist Shareholders in Corporate Governance
Activist Shareholders in Corporate Governance

Author: Tim Bowley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-01-12

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1509952241

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This book explores the regulatory challenges of public company shareholder activism. Around the world, policy makers, practitioners and academics debate how best to regulate shareholder activism. Using Australia as a case study, the book examines key issues raised by this debate. With a market structure and legal settings that are conducive to activism, Australia makes an ideal case study and provides a fresh comparative perspective on the regulatory debate about shareholder activism, which tends to be dominated by US-focused analysis and commentary. The book presents empirical evidence which reveals that Australian activism is a significant and multifaceted phenomenon, undertaken by different types of activists pursuing varying strategies and supported by a range of complementary market developments. The book uses this evidence to develop comparative insights and explore internationally topical issues, including: - activists' willingness to use interventionist governance rights; - the role of intermediaries such as proxy advisers in facilitating activism; - institutional investor stewardship; and - the risks of collective shareholder activism. This book provides an important comparative perspective on the topic of shareholder activism. It is an essential resource for policy makers, practitioners and academics interested in the regulatory implications of shareholder activism.

The Making of the Modern Company
The Making of the Modern Company

Author: Susan Watson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-05-19

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1509923640

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This book adopts a historical perspective to highlight, and bring back into focus, the key features of the modern company. A central argument in the book is that legal personhood attaching to an entity containing a corporate fund seeded by shareholders is a direct and inevitable consequence of limited liability and the company's status as a separate legal entity from its shareholders. Management by a board subject to legal duties to the company as an entity that can exist in perpetuity facilitates a long term perspective by the board that can accommodate both shareholder and stakeholder interests. These defining characteristics differentiate the modern company from other business forms. The Making of the Modern Company applies a 21st-century lens to the corporation through its history to identify turning points in its development. It sets out how key features emerged in the course of two separate developmental cycles in English corporate law: first with the English East India Company in the 17th century, and then with general incorporation statutes in the 2nd half of the 19th century. The book's historical perspective highlights that the key features are part of the 'secret sauce' of modern companies. Each cycle coincided with unparalleled periods of economic success associated with corporate activity This book will be of interest to corporate law and governance academics, theorists and practitioners, those who study the company from related disciplines, and anyone who questions why uncertainty still exists about the structure of a legal form that has been described as 'amongst mankind's greatest inventions'.

Court-Supervised Restructuring of Large Distressed Companies in Asia
Court-Supervised Restructuring of Large Distressed Companies in Asia

Author: Wai Yee Wan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-07-28

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1509952357

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This book provides an in-depth analysis of 4 economically significant Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, India, Hong Kong and Singapore. These jurisdictions have recently either reformed – or are considering reforming – their corporate restructuring laws to promote regimes conducive to restructuring financially distressed, but otherwise economically viable, companies. Mainland China, India, Hong Kong and Singapore continue to adhere to a framework that requires the court's final approval but draw references from Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code 1978 in the United States and/or the schemes of arrangement in the United Kingdom. However, the institutional and market structures are very different in Asia; in particular, Asia has a far higher concentration in shareholdings among listed firms, including holdings by families and the state, and a different composition of creditors. The book explains how, notwithstanding the legal transplantation, corporate restructuring laws in these Asian jurisdictions have adapted and evolved due to the frictions in shareholder-creditor and creditor-creditor relationships, and the role of the state in resolving non-performing loans and financial distress of state-owned enterprises which are listed, or which issue public debt. The study argues that any reforms must go beyond professionalising the insolvency professionals and the judiciary but must be designed to address fundamental issues of corporate governance, bank regulation and enforcing non-bankruptcy rules. It offers invaluable insights for academics and policy makers alike.

Shareholders and Stakeholders
Shareholders and Stakeholders

Author: Joanne F Sonin

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-09-07

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1509966811

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This book explores the evolution of the shareholder in post-war Britain within the context of changing legal, political, economic, and social conditions. It examines how the post-war transformation of the shareholder body influenced relationships amongst stakeholders, impacting corporate behaviour and the legal and political efforts to govern industry and financial markets. The book addresses a number of themes, including: 1) how the movements for democratisation influenced the treatment of shareholder interests and the calls for stakeholder representation; 2) how the rhetoric of change created a narrative that deflected from the lack of systemic legal reforms and protected the status quo; 3) how, in the post-war consensus environment, political positions on equity ownership de-radicalised, which proved unsustainable against a background of increasing political polarisation and industrial unrest; and 4) how the institutionalisation of the post-war shareholder body had profound effects on industry, the financial markets, and the economy. With these themes as a foundation, the evolutionary arch of the post-war shareholder is examined, focusing on developments that influenced the treatment and perception of shareholder and stakeholder interests, including nationalisations, shareholder democracy, corporate purpose, and industrial democracy. The book further considers how these post-war changes contribute to the post-1979 legal treatment of shareholder and stakeholder interests, including subsequent changes to the Companies Act and the development of corporate governance codes. Parallels to contemporary movements for stakeholder capitalism, corporate purpose, and ESG are drawn. The historical analysis of the post-war shareholder provides a framework for considering current questions on shareholder primacy and the demands for systemic legal reforms. These missed opportunities for meaningful changes to the treatment of shareholder interests in UK company law serve as useful precedents for evaluating subsequent periods.

Investment Management, Stewardship and Sustainability
Investment Management, Stewardship and Sustainability

Author: Iris H-Y Chiu

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-02-09

Total Pages: 491

ISBN-13: 1509953779

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This book brings together thought leadership from academia and leading figures in asset management in key global jurisdictions, to pool together insights regarding the transformative visions and challenges for modern investment management, as well as best practices that realise the policy objectives in regulation and soft law. The world of investment management is being challenged by new legal, regulatory and soft law developments to demonstrate that their practices cohere with the long-term needs of the saving population as well as public interest needs in financing global sustainability and social development. The chapters in this book uniquely bring together the views of academia and practice on the key developments that can transform the law and practice of investment management, including the EU's new sustainable finance reform package, the UK Stewardship Code 2020, and developments in the US regarding the fit between fiduciary law for investment management and modern sustainability concerns. The book brings together the best of both worlds–critical thoughtful perspectives from academia and qualitative insight from the investment management industry. It will be of interest to researchers in law, investment management, business and management, practitioners in the investment management industry and their legal advisers, and policy-makers in the EU, UK and beyond who are grappling with the appropriate governance paradigms for bringing about more sustainable outcomes globally.

Diversity, Merit and Power in the C-Suite
Diversity, Merit and Power in the C-Suite

Author: Eleanore Hickman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-05-18

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1509946578

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This book explores the correlations of diversity and power in UK boardrooms and the difficulties inherent in truly merit-based appointments. From a distance, boardroom diversity is seen as a UK success story of recent years. A closer look at boardrooms reveals a more uncomfortable truth: boards can be split into tracks of power and diversity. Where there is a concentration in power, genuine diversity is much less prevalent. Using the FTSE 100, the book examines the appointment and retention of the most powerful positions in some of the world's most powerful corporations. Diversity, merit and power are each defined and measured individually, then considered cumulatively, to provide fresh insights into the meaning of corporate power, who wields it and how it is obtained. This analysis is considered alongside the diversity narratives created by the FTSE 100 to frame their position on diversity. From this, the value of corporate 'diversity speak' is challenged, together with the regulatory requirements that result in its production. Those studying or practising corporate law or management and anyone with an interest in corporate power will find this in-depth assessment thought-provoking and informative. From the book's original vantage point, suggestions are made as to how and why we might seek a more balanced distribution of power in the boardroom.