Abstract:
This essay seeks to embrace the key building blocks of corporate governance in publicly traded corporations. It draws on the research from different disciplines which have made important contributions to the debate on this complex subject. The essay starts with a review of major theories of corporate governance. The central focus of the essay is on boards of directors and their relationships with various governance constituencies. This emphasis is chosen for two reasons: first, the board of directors is the core building block of corporate governance; and second, new developments and regulations in corporate governance systems are preoccupied with changing roles, responsibilities and functioning of the boards in public corporations. The essay also engages in a brief discussion on the convergence/divergence of different systems of corporate governance, and outlines the developments in corporate governance regulation in the context of recent crises.