The current divide in governance practices has more to do with the elimination by established public companies of previously standard provisions, often in response to direct or indirect pressure from stockholders and proxy advisory firms, than with an increased prevalence of these provisions among IPO companies.
Over the past decade, the growing influence of proxy advisory firms on shareholder voting, executive compensation and corporate governance practices has caused no small degree of consternation and concern among public companies, given the perceived power of the highly-concentrated proxy advisory industry to effectively coordinate shareholder voting.
Hollinger International, publisher of The Chicago Sun-Times, disclosed Friday that a committee of independent directors looking into its corporate governance practices had found inaccuracies in some regulatory filings.
"Questionable governance practices have been tolerated at BSkyB for a long time, and unfortunately many shareholders have not effectively challenged them.
For further details go to www.cranfield.ac.uk/som Sound corporate governance practices have become critical in helping business organisations improve their corporate performance and attract investors.
Since the financialization of the economy in the late 1970s, corporate governance practices have tightly linked the purpose of business with maximizing shareholder value.
In a world where markets already pay more attention to what happens in China than in Europe, and where loans from emerging economies are keeping the debt-challenged United States economy on life support, the I.M.F.'s outdated governance practices have become an accident waiting to happen.
It was the darling of the socially responsible investment community: The FTSE4Good Index Series – designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong Environmental, Social and Governance practices – had it listed for several years in a row, while in 2013 it became global sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
High: Given the size and scale of some of the practices you undertook, what sort of governance practices have you put in place?
Forty-five percent of financial advisers and 43% of high-net-worth investors think that post-SOX governance practices have improved "a moderate amount".
