Comparative Corporate Governance: The State of the Art and International Regulation

Corporate governance, i.e. the system by which companies are directed and controlled, has become a key topic for legislation, practice and academia in all modern industrial states. The financial crisis has highlighted the problems. Yet one goes astray if one does not understand how the unique combination of economic, legal and social determinants of corporate governance functions in each country. A functional comparative analysis based on reports from 33 countries and with references to economic literature may help. After dealing with the concepts, instruments (including soft law) and sources of corporate governance, the Article analyses the regulation and practice of the various actors in corporate governance: mainly the board and the shareholders, but also labor, gatekeepers (in particular the auditors), the supervisors and the courts. In the end, a great deal of convergence appears, though many pathdependent differences remain.