Global Pressure, National System: How German Corporate Governance is Changing

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Cornell University Press, 2007 - Business & Economics - 201 pages

Will the pressures of financial and product market globalization force European firms to switch from a stakeholder-based model of corporate governance to a shareholder-based, Anglo-Saxon system? While many scholars of globalization have long assumed convergence toward the shareholder model, little empirical research on the firm level on this assumed dynamic exists.In Global Pressure, National System, which makes a strong case against convergence, Alexander Börsch focuses on the impact of globalization and regulatory changes on German corporate governance, which is widely seen as the prototype of a stakeholder system. Börsch presents the results of his in-depth research on three German firms that are to varying degrees exposed to financial and product market pressures: Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, and Bosch. Despite the pressures from financial markets and global competition, he finds that none of these firms have extensively restructured along Anglo-Saxon lines.Investigating the main dimensions of restructuring--financial, organizational, and portfolio restructuring--as well as internationalization strategies, Börsch finds that adaptation of selected features of shareholder-based governance is quite possible. However, because the prevailing product market strategies of German firms are solidly based on the stakeholder model, change will be limited to those elements that do not destroy the firms' competitive advantage. Hence, although these firms may alter some of their business practices in response to pressures from the global marketplace, their core institutions remain stable.

 

Contents

Theory and Practice of Corporate Governance
1
Corporate Governance and Globalization
12
German Corporate Governance Regulatory Reforms and Aggregate Changes
42
Siemens
74
Deutsche Telekom
102
Bosch
128
Lessons of German Corporate Governance
155
References
183
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About the author (2007)

Alexander Borsch has been a researcher at the European University Institute in Florence and now works as Manager of International Pension Research in the asset management industry.

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