The Research Horizon

There is little doubt about the fact that corporate governance is here to stay. At CCG we hope to play a role in informing and shaping debate over the next decade. Below are some of the most important emerging themes, to which we hope to make a contribution.

Clearly most research so far has been done on publicly listed firms in the US and the UK. Without detracting from the value of these studies, this type of firm is clearly a minority and there is a great need to examine corporate governance in other contexts: closely held firms, family-owned companies, cooperatives, foundation-ownership, non-profits, business groups, partnerships, government-owned firms etc. It is not clear that results from the US and the UK generalize to other institutional settings nor is it clear that research on publicly held firms carries over to closely held firms, business groups or other structures facing quite different challenges. We hope that careful comparative institutional analysis of these alternative structures will not only mean the investigation and explanation of a greater number of governance problems, but will also lead to a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of governance.

Closely held firms, which account for the bulk of all economic activity in most countries and are particularly important in the Nordic countries, receive special emphasis. These firms appear to have their own corporate governance problems, which differ substantially from the classical agency problem of separating ownership and control. Using unique Danish data sources, the corporate governance characteristics of closely held firms, which include the role of the family, the decision to establish a supervisory board, succession problems and conflicts between family owners, can be documented and analyzed.

Despite several decades of research the, meaning of ‘good corporate governance’ remains problematic. While rules and guidelines for best practice codes across the world have been developed there is little evidence to back them. A sobering prospect that they are not going to accomplish much to alleviate the currently perceived crisis in corporate governance is arising from major financial scandals. Meanwhile – until the next crisis – academics share a responsibility to come up with more specific, tangible suggestions on how to improve corporate governance practices.