Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance

How should corporations be run? Who should get a say, and what results can we expect? Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance provides an accessible introduction to the various failed attempts at using corporate governance to improve society. It introduces the record of these failures and illuminates hard lessons spread across thousands of empirical studies. If we look at the outcomes generated by various corporate governance 'best' practices, we find that none of the practices work. If we look at the theories and assumptions that support modern corporate governance, we find they are likely wrong. And if we look at the prospect of corporate governance to improve political, environmental, and social outcomes, we find ample evidence that governance will fail us here too. After documenting these failures, Bryce Tingle K.C. turns to the most important lesson: How to fix this important, but broken, system.

Bryce C. Tingle KC is Professor and N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary. He is a member of one of the Securities Commissions in Canada, serves as the Chair for various business corporations, and spent decades advising boards, including as the General Counsel of several international corporate groups.