The Embedded Firm
Corporate Governance, Labor, and Finance Capitalism

In this book world-renowned experts present a timely investigation of the prospects for reformed market-regulation after the financial crisis.

Cynthia A. Williams (Edited by), Peer Zumbansen (Edited by)

9781107006010, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 August 2011

498 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.8 cm, 0.91 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This collection of essays by leading international scholars offers fresh perspectives on the impact of the global transformation of operating conditions on the change in the relationship between companies and employees, and the pressures on corporations to adopt new strategies and governance practices. This book should be of great interest to lawmakers, practitioners and scholars seeking to understand the dynamics of business and financial regulation in Europe and the US.' Joseph McCahery, Tilburg University Law School

The globalization of capital markets since the 1980s has been accompanied by a vigorous debate over the convergence of corporate governance standards around the world towards the shareholder model. But even before the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009, the dominance of the shareholder model was challenged with regard to persisting divergences and national differences in corporate law, labor law and industrial relations. This collection explores this debate at an important crossroads, echoing Karl Polanyi's famous observation in 1944 of the disembeddedness of the market from society. Drawing on pertinent insights from scholars, practitioners and regulators in corporate and labor law, securities regulation as well as economic sociology and management theory, the contributions shed important light on the empirical effects on the economy of the shift to shareholder primacy, in light of a comprehensive reconsideration of the global context, policy goals and regulatory forms which characterize market governance today.

List of figures
List of tables
1. Introduction: corporate governance after the 'end of history': investigating the new 'Great Transformation' Cynthia Williams and Peer Zumbansen
Part I. Historical Trajectories of Business and Regulation: 2. Corporate governance and financial crisis in the long run Simon Deakin
3. Financialism: a (very) brief history Lawrence E. Mitchell
4. Legitimating power: the changing status of the board of directors Dalia Tsuk Mitchell
5. Engaging corporate boards: the limits of liability rules in modern corporate governance William T. Allen
6. The primacy of Delaware and the embeddedness of the firm Fenner Stewart
7. The new embeddedness of the corporation: corporate social responsibility in the knowledge society Peer Zumbansen
Part II. New Interests, New Shareholder Constellations, New Landscapes: 8. Beyond the Berle and Means paradigm: private equity and the new capitalist order Stephen F. Diamond
9. Pension funds as owners and as financial intermediaries: a review of recent Canadian experience Simon Archer
10. Credit derivatives market design: creating fairness and sustainability Janis Sarra
11. The EU Takeovers Directive: a shareholder or stakeholder model? Blanaid Clarke
12. 'Law and finance': inaccurate, incomplete and important Ruth V. Aguilera and Cynthia A. Williams
Part III. Labor's Evolution in the Economy: 13. Labor and finance in the United States Sanford M. Jacoby
14. The conflicting logic of markets and the management of production Suzanne Konzelmann and Frank Wilkinson
15. Organising workers globally - the need for public policy to regulate investment John Evans
16. From governance to political economy: insights from a study of relations between corporations and workers Harry W. Arthurs and Claire Mummé
Part IV. The Transnational Embedded Firm and the Financial Crisis: 17. The intellectual foundations of the global financial crisis: analysis and proposals for reform Frank Jan De Graaf and Cynthia A. Williams
18. Why executive pay matters to innovation and inequality William Lazonick
19. Products, perimeters and politics: systemic risk and securities regulation Mary Condon
20. Modernizing pension fund legal standards for the twenty-first century Keith Johnson and Frank Jan De Graaf
Part V. Conclusion: 21. Conclusion: evaluation, policy proposals and research agenda Cynthia A. Williams and Peer Zumbansen
Index.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], Corporate governance [KJR], Political economy [KCP]