Keeping Good Company: A Study of Corporate Governance in Five Countries - Softcover

Charkham, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198289871 ISBN 13: 9780198289876

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Corporate governance, the role played by the board of directors, has changed dramatically in recent years, as boards become more assertive in their watchdog function. In Keeping Good Company, Jonathan Charkham--whom The Financial Times of London recently dubbed "Mr. Corporate Governance"--provides an insightful comparative study of corporate governance in five major industrial powers: Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Charkham points out that the best systems seem to be collegial in style, and that contrary to the saying that the best committees are committees of one, group management is actually the most efficient way of running a large and complex operation. This book brilliantly demonstrates that a sound framework for the exercise of corporate power is an economic necessity. It will be essential reading for all top executives, especially those working for multinational corporations.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Charkham was formerly adviser to the Governor of the Bank of England. He has served on many committees on corporate governance, including the National Health Service and Housing Associations (U.K.) He is a director of several public companies, including Great Universal Stores PLC.

From Kirkus Reviews

Charkham, a former Bank of England aide and member of the United Kingdom's Cadbury Committee (which produced a 1992 report on the financial aspects of corporate governance), offers an informative (if occasionally donnish) primer on how private enterprises are managed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and the US. Broadly speaking, corporate governance (a term of art that defies concise definition) involves the ways in which professionals run publicly held companies and their accountability to investors and other constituencies (often referred to as stakeholders). Before getting down to cases on different business practices, the author provides context with audits of the banking, cultural, labor, legal, regulatory, and tax regimes that obtain in each country. From that base he goes on to examine the advantages, benefits, and failings of various approaches to governance, addressing the considerable authority ceded most American CEOs by directors, the value Japanese executives place on collegial deliberation and consensus, the discipline imposed on corporate stewards by takeover threats, and the frequently adversarial roles played by activist institutions in the US and (to a lesser extent) the UK. Covered as well are the autocratic powers of France's corporate chieftains (which the author speculates may derive from the esteem still accorded historical figures like Napoleon and de Gaulle), Germany's two-tier board system, and the administrative principles common to all industrial powers. In a windup chapter, Charkham reaches the arguable conclusion that, on balance, Germany and Japan have the most efficient systems of corporate governance. A detailed and enlightening introduction to a socioeconomic construct that is a vital determinant of the wealth of nations. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0198289871
• ISBN 13: 9780198289876
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408