Sustainability and Corporate Mechanisms in Asia

This book critically examines how corporate law and governance can be and should be used to promote sustainability in Asia.

Ernest Lim (Author)

9781108494519, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 April 2020

428 pages, 2 tables
23.4 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.71 kg

'Professor Lim's highly original work adds important nuances to the ongoing debates through its convincing demonstration that the common law family is a far more heterogeneous group in respect of corporate sustainability than assumed by advocates of the 'legal origins matter' thesis … His rich and nuanced account of how these mechanisms have intertwined and interacted with broader institutional conditionalities in the four jurisdictions in addressing the sustainability question is solidly grounded in the comparative literature while revealing a distinctive Asian perspective. Importantly, the case studies offer fresh comparative insights with implications that go beyond the four surveyed jurisdictions.' Xi Chao, Journal of Comparative Law

This is the first book to provide a comparative and critical analysis of why and how six corporate mechanisms - (1) sustainability reporting; (2) board gender diversity; (3) constituency directors; (4) stewardship codes; (5) directors' duty to act in the company's best interests; and (6) liability on companies, shareholders and directors - have been or can be used to promote sustainability in the four leading common law jurisdictions in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Malaysia). A central challenge is, whether and if so, how the corporate mechanisms should be reconceptualised to promote sustainability in an environment that is characterised by controlling shareholders, particularly the government in state-owned enterprises. Because controlling shareholders are the norm for the majority of the world's companies, and state-owned enterprises play a significant role, this book has important insights on the problems and prospects of advancing sustainability in concentrated and mixed ownership jurisdictions.

1. Introduction and overview
2. Sustainability reporting
3. Board gender diversity
4. Constituency directors
5. Stewardship codes
6. Directors' duty to act in the best interests of the company
7. Liability of companies, shareholders and directors
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Commercial law [LNCB], Company, commercial & competition law [LNC], Law [L]