Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Establishing the ideological foundations: the contribution of liberal political philosophy
- Part II Understanding how corporate governance evolves: the contribution of history
- Introduction to Part II
- 3 Familial governance (c.1800–1920): economic enfranchisement and the founder as entrepreneur
- 4 Managerial governance (c.1920–1970): separation of powers and management as entrepreneur
- 5 Post-managerial governance (from c.1970): ownership of the large corporation reaches unprecedented mass and fragments into multiple poles
- 6 Interpreting public governance: representation and debate signify a new step towards democratization
- Conclusion to Part II
- Part III Corporate governance and performance: the contribution of economics
- Conclusion to Part III
- Epilogue
- Index
5 - Post-managerial governance (from c.1970): ownership of the large corporation reaches unprecedented mass and fragments into multiple poles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Establishing the ideological foundations: the contribution of liberal political philosophy
- Part II Understanding how corporate governance evolves: the contribution of history
- Introduction to Part II
- 3 Familial governance (c.1800–1920): economic enfranchisement and the founder as entrepreneur
- 4 Managerial governance (c.1920–1970): separation of powers and management as entrepreneur
- 5 Post-managerial governance (from c.1970): ownership of the large corporation reaches unprecedented mass and fragments into multiple poles
- 6 Interpreting public governance: representation and debate signify a new step towards democratization
- Conclusion to Part II
- Part III Corporate governance and performance: the contribution of economics
- Conclusion to Part III
- Epilogue
- Index
Summary
Managerial governance was based on a clear separation of powers, between management on the one hand and shareholders on the other, with unions playing the role of external counterweight. Management was strong and united by the ties of shared expertise, professional standards, schooling, and social convention; shareholders were weak, but united in the passive stance generally adopted towards management (control) and the narrowly focused interest in the profits of the corporation. From the 1970s onwards, with the shareholding bodies of large corporations spreading ever more widely in the population and thereby gaining unprecedented mass, the managerial model started to unravel. Governance by managerial expertise was severely challenged by the resultant change in the balance of power between management and shareholders and came under sustained attack (1). Shareholders fragmented into multiple poles of interest, each demanding that the corporation satisfy different criteria: in other words, the unity of the shareholding body dissolved. As a consequence, corporate governance also underwent a major change, and the function of the entrepreneur was reinterpreted to accord a significant role to investors in the financial markets and long-term shareowners. A new model of governance has emerged, a model that we call public governance, to stress the critical role played by the larger public (2). Unlike the transition from familial governance to managerial governance which took place many years ago, the transition from managerial governance to public governance is not yet complete.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Entrepreneurs and DemocracyA Political Theory of Corporate Governance, pp. 136 - 172Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008