Financial integration, corporate governance, and the performance of multinational companies

by Fukao, Mitsuhiro

The increased globalization of production processes and the integration of the world's financial markets have placed considerable pressures on companies to reevaluate their governance structures. These structures, which vary from country to country, affect everything from financial fluidity and competitiveness to rules on insider trading, takeover, and accounting and disclosure practices. Should a single model of corporate governance be adopted as a world standard? In this book, part of the Integrating National Economies series, Mitsuhiro Fukao argues against the impulse to adopt a single system of corporate governance. He provides a comprehensive comparison of corporate governance structures in France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, outlining the advantages of each type of structure and analyzing the important behavioral differences among them. He explains the order of importance of various stakeholders - creditors, top executives, core employees, and share