Corporate Governance

Catalog description

Study of interrelationships among shareholders, boards of directors, and managers (owner agents) and other stakeholders in a modern public corporation. IMBA 517 Corporate Governance (2) The subject matter of corporate governance deals with the nature of the interrelationships among shareholders (owners), boards of directors (representatives of the owners), and mangers (agents of the owners). These interrelationships from the basis for the modern corporation. As their agents, managers are supposed to run a company in the interest of its shareholders; the board of directors is expected to monitor the performance of managers and to ensure that they do not stray from their primary obligation to the owners. The subject of corporate governance also encompasses the study of corporations' relationships with its employees, creditors, supplies, and customers. Finally, as corporations are expected to be good citizens of their communities, corporate governance also extends to the study of corporations; relationships with their communities.Periodic scandals involving major, publicly held companies have underscored the fundamental importance of these relationships. The larger interests of society and of its citizens required that various stakeholders perform their roles in an ethical manner. This course reviews major theories of ethical and moral development, provides cases and exercises to heighten students' awareness of these areas, and reviews heuristics and decisions-models for ethical conduct. This course thus also addresses the emerging area of ethical corporate governance, specifically exploring the how ethical conduct and the ethical underpinnings of corporate governance function to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders.