Unit name | Global Perspectives on Corporate Governance |
---|---|
Unit code | LAWDM0117 |
Credit points | 30 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
Unit director | Ms. Boeger |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
none |
Co-requisites |
none |
School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit challenges students to critically engage with fundamental theoretical and practical approaches to corporate governance in diverse socio-economic contexts. Using case study examples from the UK, Europe, the US as well as African and Asian regimes, it seeks to assess and compare a global variety of corporate governance models drawing on contemporary conceptual and practical debates. It explores corporate governance classically understood as determining decision-making within the business corporation, but then considers challenges to this classic understanding, for example the emergent global governance of social enterprise: social business models, mutual and cooperative societies. Further topics include: comparative corporate governance techniques and varieties of capitalism; global approaches to corporate social responsibility; corporate governance and the public service economy: public contracting and procurement.
Outline of course seminars: 1. Introduction: a global perspective on corporate governance? 2. The shareholder model of corporate governance 3. The shareholder model in global perspective: World Bank and OECD guidance on corporate governance 4. Continental European perspectives on corporate governance 5. Company law and corporate governance in the European Union’s Internal Market 6. Asian perspectives on corporate governance 7. African perspectives on corporate governance 8. Corporate Social Responsibility 9. Corporate governance, mutual societies and cooperative organisations 10. A global perspective on Social Enterprise 11. Corporate governance and the public service economy
The course further comprises: a) two feedback sessions of two hours each, dedicated to the discussion of formative work; b) two workshop sessions of two hours each, including a research exercise and student presentations on the subject of their research.
By the end of the course the students should be able to: 1. Understand and critically assess corporate governance regimes in diverse socio-economic contexts, drawing on case studies in the UK, Europe, US and Asian and African regimes 2. Understand and critically assess theoretical and practical approaches to corporate governance from a global comparative perspective 3. Understand and critically assess a variety of corporate governance techniques 4. Understand and critically assess the emergent global governance of social enterprise 5. Understand and critically assess theoretical and practical approaches to corporate social responsibility 6. Understand and critically assess the global implications of corporate governance in the public service economy 7. Research, understand and critically assess relevant literature sources, including library and internet databases, and formulate coherent arguments based on independent research, on any of the above topics. 8. Follow and critically appraise contemporary debates on any of the above topics.
The course runs in eleven fortnightly two hour seminars, alongside feedback sessions and workshops.
Two 3,000 words essays (worth 40% and 60% respectively of the final grade). There is no examination.
Initial Literature: 1. M. Fleckner and K. J. Hopt (eds), Comparative Corporate Governance: A Functional and International Analysis, Cambridge University Press, 2013 2. P. Utting, J. Marques (eds), Corporate Social Responsibility and Regulatory Governance: Towards Inclusive Development?, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 3. P. A. Hall and D. Soskice (eds), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford University Press, 2001 4. C. Milhaupt and K. Pistor, Law & Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal about Legal Systems and Economic Development around the World, University of Chicago Press, 2010 5. M. J. Whincop, Corporate Governance in Government Corporations, Ashgate, 2004 6. R. Ridley-Duff and M. Bull, Understanding Social Enterprise: Theory and Practice, Sage, 2011