Governing the Business Enterprise: Ownership, Institutions, Society

Abstract

For those concerned with nature and role of the business firm in economy and society, these are challenging times. Past and ongoing financial crises and scandals have focused attention on the system of regulation, governance and disclosure in a way many may never have imagined and few welcomed. Those shortcomings relate to the primacy of shareholder value that frames and shapes the received system. Not only do reforms appear to be necessary to protect shareholders as well as other stakeholders, but also a different understanding of the relationship between the Share Exchange and the business firm. This paper introduces the proceedings of the EAEPE international conference at the CNAM (Paris, on 22 and 23 May 2008). From different disciplines and perspectives, all the featured authors will critically discuss the received system and look for a more comprehensive approach integrating accounting, economics, and law of the business enterprise.

Keywords: corporate governance, corporate law and regulation, accounting standards, shareholders value, financial crisis, financialisation

JEL Classification: L20, K11, K22, G30, M40, D20, M20, H20, M14