Synopses & Reviews
Executives lining their own pockets, corporate directors profiting from insider dealing, cozy arrangements between business and government being exploited to eliminate competition, and shareholders filing lawsuits in protest accused of masterminding a short-selling scheme all sound like another sordid chapter in the financial crises that has gripped the world for the last year and a half but it is, in fact, a 400 year-old story demonstrating that problems of corporate malfeasance are as old as the corporation itself. This volume deals with issues of widespread interest to corporate governance scholars, practitioners and policymakers, including: the origins of investor rights in different markets (with attention to the causes and consequences of significant episodes in the history of shareholder activism), the political, legal and economic conditions that determine levels of shareholder participation, and the implications of variation in investor rights, including the connection between protection of investors and the development of capital markets. It's historical and global approach is unique in the study of shareholder participation. The articles address governance from the medieval to early industrial eras and consider markets as varied as the Netherlands, Venice, the United States and China.
Review
“This interesting collection of essays provides stimulating linkage from the origins of shareholding in the Dutch East India company over 400 years ago to the controversies in our era over executive pay, shareholder rights, and the workings of corporate governance. The chapters enlighten us about past , present and where to go in the future.” —Peter Gourevitch, Professor, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego, and co-author of Political Power and Corporate Control
"This is a fascinating collection of papers on the early evolution of the corporation and shareholder advocacy. The carefully researched descriptions of the introduction of corporate governance in different parts of the world appreciably extend our understanding of the evolution of the corporation and provide important insights into modern corporate governance debates." —Professor Colin Mayer, Peter Moores Dean, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Synopsis
Since the normalization of Sino-Korean diplomatic relations in 1992, many South Koreans have moved to China for business, education, and other purposes. In China they have encountered Korean-Chinese --ethnic Koreans who have lived in China for decades. Contrary to expectations that ethnic solidarity would lay the foundation for lasting cooperation between South Koreans and Korean-Chinese, "intra-ethnic conflict" has instead divided the Korean communities. The explanation for this surprising finding lies in cultural and economic differences which developed between Koreans in South Korea and in China during decades of separation and in a degree of ethnic trust blind to actual circumstances. By showing how ethnic identity underpins transnational flows of people and resources but also how those flows transform ethnic configurations, this book contributes to debates about the interaction of globalization and community.
Synopsis
This volume deals with issues of widespread interest including, the origins of investor rights in different markets, the political, legal and economic conditions that determine levels of shareholder participation, and the implications of variation in investor rights.
About the Author
Jonathan Koppell is Associate of Professor of Politics and Management at the Yale School of Management where he previously directed the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance. He is the author of World Rule and The Politics of Quasi-Government.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Shareholder Advocacy: Historical Bedrock of Corporate Governance * Jonathan Koppell, et al * DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE SHAREHOLDER AS AGGRIEVED PARTY * Putting Le Maire into Perspective: Business Organization and the Evolution of Corporate Governance in the Dutch Republic, 1590-1640--Abe de Jong, Oscar Gelderblom, and Joost Jonker * Shareholder Activists Avant La Lettre: The “Complaining Participants” in the Dutch East India Company--Johan Matthijs de Jongh * The Great Expropriation: Understanding the Innovation of Permanent Capital in the Dutch and English East India Companies--Andrew Von Nordenflycht * OVERCOMING THE AGENCY CHALLENGE OF EARLY GLOBAL TRADE * The Rise and Fall of the Rishengchang Bank Model: Limiting Shareholder Influence to Attract Capital--Randall Morck & Fan Young * Institutions, Information, and Contracts: From Debt to Equity in Late Medieval Venice--Yadira Gonzalez de Lara * Shareholders Rights in the Early Italian Companies: Agency Problems and Legal Strategies--Corrado Malberti * Compagnie des Indes, Governance and Bailout--Reza Dibadj * Shareholder Activism in the Virginia Company of London, 1606 - 1624--Thomas William Hall * SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS AND THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES * Corporate Governance and Stockholder/Stakeholder Activism in the United States, 1790-1860: New Data and Perspectives--Richard Sylla & Robert E. Wright * Origins of 'Offensive' Shareholder Activism in the United States--John H. Armour,& Brian R. Cheffins * Contemporary Issues in Shareholder Advocacy--Stephen Davis