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There is an excellent analysis of corporate philanthropy programs in the U.S. – reviewing their trends, issues,and tendencies – the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation:
The majorconclusions of the entry, madeby Matteo Tonello of TheConference Board, are asasfollows:
(Note:thevideos in the link below are worth watching, on the topic of managing and governing entrepreneurial firms, and related public policy.)
19 April 2011 World Economic Forum (press release)
In the U.K., it is sometimes said that the company secretary is the conscience of the company. From this it is clear that this is a very established role in the U.K., with greater impact than the U.S. and Japan. Some say that this role should be clearly adopted by statutory auditors in Japan.
From thisreport/survey by theComany Secretarial Services Quality House, one can get a better idea of what company secretaries in the U.K. actually do:
Mary-Hunter McDonnell and Brayden King of the Northwestern University School of Law, and theNorthwestern University School of Management, have produceda very revealing (if predictible) research paper with the above title.
(Conclusion of Working Paper – last page)
Sorry, but I can't resist asking: Feel Sorry for Tokyo Electric Power Co? (A cross-post from http://bit.ly/feNIgN) (Note; tongue firmly in cheek: see my straight post earlier: Institutionalized moral hazard: Fun with Nuclear Power in Japan, or, prepare for a glowing twilight, with scattered fallout in the morning – TT's Lost in Tokyo http://bit.ly/hvvWHU)
The followingentry appeared as part of GovernanceMetrics International’s GMI Blog. GMI is the leading independent provider of global corporate governance and ESG ratings and research. Corporate stakeholders – including leading investors, insurers, auditors, regulators and others – use GovernanceMetrics services to identify and monitor risks related to non-financial measures covering key environmental, social, governance and accounting risk factors.
The insightful Professor Hideaki Miyajima, Professor at the Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University, has written an article with the above titlein the English Yomiurionline edition, inwhich he summarizesthe results of his recent research. The article is available at:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/wol/dy/opinion/gover-eco_110801.htm
Here are some excerpts reflecting some of his most important conclusions:
Deloitte has published its generalrecommendations following the recent round of say on pay votes in the U.S. Its conclusion was that, surprisingly to some, about 70% of shareholders received the equivalent of an A grade, in the sense that they received for votes from greater than 90% of shareholders.
The report: http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/iazu9vnb
Deloitte also concluded:
John Wocher, Executive Vice President of the famous Kameda Medical Center in Chiba, has shared with us his article that appeared in Japan Hospitals recently. It can be downloaded (press download asset at lower right) on the Data Library:
http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/n10cb3sa
John's introduction of what he subsequently explains in detail:
(By Norman Marks)
Corporate Governance Matters: A Closer Look at Organizational Choices and Their Consequences is a book by David Larcker and Brian Tayan. I found this excerpt interesting and worthy of discussion. The first issue I have is with their definition of corporate governance. I find it too defensive: