Corporate Governance in Global Capital Markets

Robert W. Sexty is a professor of commerce and business administration
at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the author of Canadian
Business: Issues and Stakeholders.

Corporate governance is the system by which a business corporation is
directed and controlled, and involves a set of relationships between a
company’s management, its board, its shareholders, and other
stakeholders. This book comprises papers that were presented at a 2002
conference held at the University of British Columbia. Most of the
contributors are legal scholars.

The book is divided into four parts. The papers in Part 1 describe the
role of corporate law in governance both domestically and
internationally. Part 2 discusses the role of the shareholder or
investor in corporate governance and the relationship between securities
regulation and governance. The role of directors is examined in Part 3,
with a focus on the multiple roles of boards, governance in
government-owned corporations, and the desirability of wider stakeholder
involvement in governance as illustrated by an industry example. Part 4
examines governance in financially distressed corporations (it is not
clear why these corporations should receive more attention than
financially successful ones).

The editor has prepared an introduction that summarizes the papers but
does not establish an overall conceptual framework except to claim that
the topic is being discussed in the context of “global capital
markets.” As is common in books prepared from conference
contributions, a coherent organization and rationale are lacking.
Readers seeking a comprehensive understanding of the topic of corporate
governance should look elsewhere.