This book investigates the key factors shaping corporate governance in China and presents a sophisticated study of corporate governance in China from a comparative and historical perspective. Drawing on extensive corporate governance literature, this book articulates why path dependence theory is the most effective framework for interpreting the development path of Chinese corporate governance. Chenxia Shi reviews the historical role of government in commercial development and regulation in dynastic China and in early corporate law-making, followed by an account of China’s legal and economic development over the last three decades. This historical inquiry identifies government control as the key feature of economic and market regulation in China. In particular, this book canvasses the evolution of governance of State-Owned Enterprises and listed companies, major corporate governance problems, regulatory challenges posed by China’s increasing participation in economic globalization, and enforcement difficulties particularly in relation to investor protection, directors’ duties and accountability. Ultimately, Political Determinants of Corporate Governance in China demonstrates that corporate governance in China is largely determined by political imperatives and those political imperatives have been shaped and re-shaped in a historical process.

This book explores the links between different corporate governance systems and their impact on economic development. It focuses on how institutional reforms, legislative changes and codified measures have influenced performance at the firm and country level. Drawing on detailed cases from the UK, USA, China, India, Poland, Brazil, Russia and South Africa, this book takes a truly international and comparative approach to understanding the relationship between regulatory frameworks and economic development. This will be a valuable text for students and researchers of economic development, corporate governance, international political economy, and economic and business history.

This book examines corporate governance rules in China, and highlights the deficiencies in current company law, with the purpose of arguing for a more effective derivative action mechanism, for the benefit of shareholders and their companies.

China's recent economic transformation and integration into the world economy has coincided with increasing pressure for corporate law reform to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) integral to business and management strategy in China. This timely book critically analyses contemporary notions of CSR in China, discussing theory and practice alongside legal responses in this emerging field. Jingchen Zhao uniquely combines the history, traditions and social policies of China with Chinese law, explaining the significance of path dependence in China. He presents an in-depth debate on the difficulties involved in transplanting developed legal principles directly into Chinese society, and takes a detailed look at the CSR provisions in Chinese company law which aimed to put social and environmental concerns onto the corporate agenda. He suggests how these laws could be more effectively and efficiently enforced with reference to UK law, and explores specific issues including: * Chinese Company Law 2006 * the 'Harmonious Society' in China * the 2008 Financial Crisis and its impact on the Chinese economy * recent corporate scandals including the Sanlu Baby Milk scandal, the Wenchuan earthquake and CSR donations, the Beijing Olympic Games and CSR, and the Fujia chemical plant. This book will prove an enlightening read for academics and practitioners in the fields of law, business and management interested in CSR and the law in contemporary China.

This book brings together scholars from different disciplines to examine the evolving patterns of economic organisation across Northeast and Southeast Asia against the backdrop of market liberalisation, political changes and periodic economic crises since the 1990s. More specifically, it provides an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities and changes in the institutional structures that shape business systems and practices and govern innovation patterns, together with analyses of their impact on established systems of economic coordination and control. In line with this analytical focus, the project has three different yet interrelated objectives. In the first place, building on the comparative business systems framework, it elucidates the nature and properties of business system changes and continuities in Asia since the 1990s. Second, it develops novel theoretical propositions concerning the primary causes of these changes and continuities, representing a collective effort to theorise the changing varieties of Asian economic organisation. Finally, it explores the causal pathways through which the changing institutional structures governing business systems have shaped and reshaped innovation strategies and trajectories across the national, sectoral and firm levels of analysis.

State-controlled listed companies have always dominated Chinese stock markets. As a result of the rampant scandals related to them, there have been voluminous academic efforts to explore their corporate governance, underpinned by agency costs. However, these studies have yet to examine the phenomenon from the perspective of venture capital and adaptive efficiency. During the last ten years, despite China’s remarkable progress in the development of its venture capital market, its domestic venture capital has been marginalized by American competitors. Given the different performance between them, the author contends that the corporate governance system of Chinese state-controlled listed companies has hampered the performance of the institutional factors which are responsible for the prosperity of American venture capital in Chinese venture capital markets. With the practice of American venture capital as the mirror, he empirically demonstrates that Chinese domestic venture capital lacks the four factors related to the success of their American counterparts: large and independent funding, application of incentive mechanisms, efficient exit channels, and a high risk tolerance level. More importantly, these defects as a whole are closely linked to the corporate governance of state-controlled listed companies. Considering the potential negative consequences on economic and social development, the author identifies policy reforms underway to harmonize agency costs and adaptive efficiency.

The world economy is facing unprecedented challenges brought by the still unfolding global financial crisis. At this critical juncture in history, China's economic performance and financial stability are closely watched across the world. The current global economic downturn and the rigidities it poses on the growth prospects of any individual economy are a testing ground for the effects of China's corporate governance reform and financial reform that have been taking place in recent years. It is now a proper time to assess whether these reforms have yielded meaningful results which can help China withstand and navigate through the most severe economic difficulties of our times. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review and critique of corporate governance reforms and related financial reforms in China during the country's transition to a market economy, involving its enterprise, banking and capital markets sectors. China's participation in economic globalization, symbolized by its accession to the World Trade Organization, is taken as a broad background to the country's domestic reform agenda. By exploring the dynamics of China's evolving corporate governance regime, this book presents an important country study of corporate governance reforms in developing and post-communist transition economies to show the possibility of alternative paths to the market.

This book is a comparative law study exploring the piercing of the corporate veil in Latin America within the context of the Anglo-American method. The piercing of the corporate veil is a remedy applied, in exceptional circumstances, to prevent and punish an inappropriate use of the corporate personality. The application of this remedy and the issues it involves has been widely researched in Anglo-American jurisdictions and, until recently, little attention has been given to this subject in Latin America. This region has been through internal political conflicts that undermined economic development. However, rise of democratic governments has created the political stability necessary for investment and economic development meaning that the corporate personality is now more commonly used in Latin America. Consequently, corporate personality issues have become a subject of study in this region. Drawing on case studies from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, Piercing the Corporate Veil in Latin American Jurisprudence examines the ingenuity of Latin American jurisdictions to deal with corporate personality issues and compares this method with the Anglo-American framework. Focusing in particular on the influence of two key factors- legal tradition and the uniqueness of each legal system- the author highlights both similarities and differences in the way in which the piercing of the corporate veil is applied in Latin American and Anglo-American jurisdictions. This book will be of great interest to scholars of company and comparative law, and business studies in general.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increasingly been promoted as an important mechanism for furthering economic and social development goals in developing countries. In such an optimistic climate, questions arise as to whether CSR can bear the weight of the increasing expectations being heaped on its shoulders. This book examines the changing nature of corporate social responsibility as it has been conceived over the past eighty years. It considers the historical and socio-legal developments of the idea of CSR and the various conceptions of the corporation which underlie different realisations of CSR. The book explores the model of CSR deployed in the developing world as well as the links between CSR and development. Renginee Pillay uses Mauritius as a case-study, demonstrating how CSR and corporate governance issues have come to the fore of political, financial and legal landscapes. Drawing on empirical research, the book examines how the first legislation of its kind has been implemented in Mauritius, and analyses its impact on development. In its work to evaluate the contribution CSR can make to development, this book will be of great use and interest to students and researchers of business and company law, business ethics, and development studies.