Global Perspectives on Corporate Governance and Csr

Good governance is of course important in every sphere of the society whether it be the corporate environment or general society or the political environment. Good governance levels can, for example, improve public faith and confidence in the political environment. When the resources are too limited to meet the minimum expectations of the people, it is a good governance level that can help to promote the welfare of society. And of course a concern with governance is at least as prevalent in the corporate world.Many companies regard corporate governance as simply a part of investor relationships and do nothing more regarding such governance except to identify that it is important investors / potential investors and to flag up that they have such governance policies. The more enlightened recognise that there is a clear link between governance and corporate social responsibility and make efforts to link the two. Often this is no more than making a claim that good governance is a part of their CSR policy as well as a part of their relationship with shareholders.These are issues which are significant in all parts of the world and a lot of attention is devoted to this global understanding. Most analysis however is too simplistic to be helpful as it normally resolves itself into simple dualities: rules based v principles based or Anglo-Saxon v Continental. Our argument is that this is not helpful as the reality is far more complex. It cannot be understood without taking geographical, cultural and historical factors into account in order to understand the similarities, differences and concerns relating to people of different parts of the world. the aim of this book is to redress this by asking subject experts from different parts of the world to explain the issues from their particular perspective. The editors will then synthesise this in a way that will be helpful to business people as well as academics.