Faculty of Humanities
School of Social Sciences
Department of Philosophy
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Corporate governance can be defined as management at the topmost level of corporations. As a "practice" it is fraught with its share of ethical challenges and dilemmas. A research project – which culminated in the publishing of a book entitled “Global perspectives on ethics of corporate governance” – explored and brought together perspectives from all continents on both the ethics of governance and the governance of ethics.
The book is divided into two sections – the first part deals with the ethical challenges and dilemmas facing corporate governance along with a detailed discussion of theoretical perspectives on the ethical dimension of corporate governance. The second part is devoted to an empirical survey of the relation between business ethics and corporate governance in six different regions of the world, viz. Africa, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Europe, Latin America and North America. The latter was coordinated by Prof Deon Rossouw of the Department of Philosophy.
Findings indicate that corporate governance models around the world range from exclusive to inclusive. Exclusive models are premised upon agency theory that portrays managers as the agents of shareholders who are obligated to act in the best financial interest of the shareholders of the corporations.
Inclusive models on the other hand are premised upon stakeholder theory and conceive the corporation as a social institution, in which the corporate board and management must strike a balance between the interests of their various stakeholders.
These results contradict predictions by prominent scholars in the corporate governance field that a convergence towards shareholder orientated exclusive corporate governance regimes should occur. Corporate governance practices in most European countries, Canada, Japan and more recent corporate governance reforms in Africa, Latin America and some Asia Pacific countries suggest that stakeholder orientated inclusive corporate governance regimes are either well established or on the incline
Contact person: Prof GJ Rossouw.
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