Governance literature

Locate the study of Corporate Governance within your chosen country. Critically discuss the importance of Corporate Governance to the development of your country in the globalized market place. (800 to 1,000 words) Your answer must follow the requirements detailed below. If a word is in bold you MUST interact with this specific sub requirement. Briefly describe the key historical, political, economic and cultural factors that explain why your chosen country is “unique” in the globalised market place. Explain the importance of the stock market within your chosen country.

Draw a sub conclusion that summarises your findings. Ensure that all material is appropriately referenced. Use of Wikipedia, and other popular internet sources is allowable for this part of this question – due to its scope. Describe how your country is located in the global market place and describe what the political impetus for development is. Ensure that your answer demonstrates how the development of publically listed companies is pivotal (or not) to the economic development of your country. Explain how this contextualises the study of Corporate Governance in your country.

In your own words critically discuss the importance of Corporate Governance to the development of your country in the globalized market place. This critical discussion must refer to, and flow from, the themes described above. This critical discussion must comprise of your own ideas expressed in your own words. You must show that you understand why Corporate Governance is important to your country. You will not pass if you simply describe a series of events and factors. You must use your own ideas to show the maker that you understand why Corporate Governance is important to study in the context of the development of your chosen country.
You MUST comply with all the requirements outlined: the arrows show SOME but not all of the requirements. | Question 2: Explain in technical terms how Corporate Governance should (and does) operate in your chosen country. Critically discuss the effectiveness of the prevailing Corporate Governance regime. (800 to 1,000 words) Your answer must follow the requirements detailed below. If a word is in bold you MUST interact with this specific sub requirement. Explain how Corporate Governance is regulated in your chosen country. This can be done in the form of a diagram.
Your answer should include reference to the organisations that are involved in the regulation, and the relevant laws, regulations and guidance. Critically observe as to the “power” and “effectiveness” of this structure. It is likely that you will have to refer to research and other literature to be able to answer this part of the question. State what you consider is the key Corporate Governance document for your country. Choose a few key sections of the Key Corporate Governance document – quote them verbatim – ensuring that you reference these quotes precisely (including the section and page number of the report they come from).
Explain in your own words why these sections of the Key Corporate Governance document are important to maintain and develop Corporate Governance. You should use ideas and theories raised in the lecture series and within the corporate governance literature to help you. Critically discuss how seriously Corporate Governance is taken in your chosen country. Is the document you have presented enforced rigorously, or is it merely a document that looks good – but is ineffectual in practice? It is likely that you will have to refer to research and other literature to be able to answer this part of the question.
You may find it helpful to refer to brief Case Studies of Corporate Governance failures (and successes) that illustrate the point that weaknesses (and strengths) exist in the regulatory environment. Draw a conclusion as to the “effectiveness” of the overall Corporate Governance regime in your chosen country. This needs to flow from your preceding analysis. You will not pass if you simply regurgitate other people’s explanations. You must attempt to appraise the “effectiveness” of the system in a qualitative/discursive manner.
You will not pass if you simply state some corporate governance theories. You must attempt to apply theories and ideas to analyse the Key Corporate governance code. No marks are given when students simply state theory. The markers know what the theory is: we want you to apply it. | Question 3 (up to 500 words) Briefly summarise the social position and power of Corporate Governance in your chosen country, and critically discuss why this might be the case. Your answer must follow the requirements detailed below. If a word is in bold you MUST interact with this specific sub requirement.
Base your answer on the work that you have carried out for Question 1 and Question 2. Explain and critically discuss the social position and power of Corporate Governance by reference to the following ideas: * Political factors * Economic factors * Cultural and social factors (includes historical factors) * Legal factors * The power of shareholders: and how they relate to the companies they own * The power of other key stakeholders: and how they relate to major companies These are “Socio Political” factors and are discussed in the Corporate Governance literature.
(eg, Aguilera, R et al (2006) Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility: a comparative analysis of the UK and the US, Corporate Governance: an International Review, 14(3), pp. 147-158. You will not pass if you simply regurgitate other people’s ideas. You will not pass if you simply state the Socio Political factors at work. You must attempt to link the “context” of the study of Corporate Governance, with the present “effectiveness” of the Corporate Governance system in a qualitative/discursive manner that uses “Socio Political” factors in an explanatory manner.
Use of other countries to compare against Even if you do not make direct comparison with other countries in your report…. many students will find it helpful to compare your country with other countries to be able to make sense of your country. Some countries will have fairly advanced corporate governance systems that are embedded in the social structure of the economy, whilst other countries will have developing corporate governance systems that are not fully embedded into the societal fabric.
Try to show where your country fits in the global context, and why this is the case. Corporate Governance and Ethics: Coursework Part 2 Question 3 (a): For your chosen country critically appraise Case Study material pertaining to the Board composition and remuneration of 5 Case Study companies. (1,000 words) Your answer must follow the requirements detailed below. If a word is in bold you MUST interact with this specific sub requirement. Describe the Board composition and remuneration of 5 case study companies from your chosen country.
It is likely that you will have to summarise some of the features. It is likely that the use of tables and diagrams and perhaps pictures might help. Critically compare and contrast these case study companies. Please be careful to present the summary description in a way that makes comparison between companies easy. This will often mean that you have to reformat the way information is presented. By applying theories presented in the module suggest what the implications might be for the Corporate Governance of these companies and also to their performance.
If the level of disclosure is weak (but enough for you to carry out some analysis) it would be very appropriate to discuss this paucity of material – for example some countries disclose total Directors’ remuneration, but not by individual Director; other countries disclose Board composition, but add no remuneration information etc… Critically reflect upon your analysis. Question 3 (b) If your country does not disclose significant levels of detail about directors then you MUST answer this variant of the question. Explain the level of disclosure about Directors in your chosen country.
Describe the disclosures (if any) for 2 case study companies from your chosen country. Describe the Board composition and remuneration for 3 UK listed companies. Critically compare and contrast the disclosures from your country with the UK case study companies. By applying theories presented in the module suggest what the implications might be for the Corporate Governance for the companies in your country and also to their performance, when compared to the UK. Critically reflect upon your analysis. You will not pass by simply describing your case study companies.
You must attempt analyse the implications of the Board composition. You will get no marks for simply quoting theory. You must attempt to apply the theory to analyse the case study companies. | Question 4(a): For your chosen country critically appraise case study material pertaining to CSR disclosure and issues (1,000 words) Your answer must follow the requirements detailed below. If a word is in bold you MUST interact with this specific sub requirement. Describe the key CSR disclosures and issues of 5 case study companies.
Critically compare and contrast these case study companies. Utilising the theories presented in the module critically comment upon the key issues surrounding the CSR debate in your chosen country. You might find it helpful to compare with other countries to highlight significant features. Question 4 (b) If your country does not disclose significant levels of detail about CSR then you MUST answer this variant of the question. Explain the level of disclosure about CSR in your chosen country. Describe the disclosures (if any) for 2 case study companies from your chosen country.
Describe the key CSR disclosures for 3 UK listed companies. Critically compare and contrast the disclosures from your country with the UK case study companies. Utilising the theories presented in the module critically suggest what the implications might be for your chosen country: both in CSR terms in general and with regard to the level of disclosure. You will not pass by simply describing your case study companies. You will get no marks for simply quoting theory. You must attempt to apply the theory to analyse the case study companies. |
Question 5 (500 words) In your own words, summarise the findings from all the sections of your coursework – both parts 1 and 2. By synthesising the findings draw an overall conclusion about the importance and effectiveness of Corporate Governance in your chosen country. Ensure that your answer embeds your findings in the global economy and addresses the limitations of any conclusions that you have reached. Hint: you have used case study data to analyse your country in a qualitative/discursive manner. This analysis has both strengths and weaknesses.
Remember that case study is not a method – it is choice of data. Optional standalone essay (1,000 words) If the quality of this essay is below your mark for the rest of the coursework it will not be included in your mark. If the quality of this essay is better than the rest of your coursework it will be used to uplift your overall mark. Using the ethical theories presented and other material from the module, critically reflect upon the statement: “Surely if we have good codes of ethics and strong corporate governance society has hope?
” Answers should consider “ethics” in the context of Corporate Governance, both at an individual level, a company level and a societal level. Reference to Corporate Social Responsibility is likely. You may rely upon your own personal observation, analysis of newspaper reports and case study material to do this, along with academic and professional articles. Students might find it helpful to look at the “ethics” imposed by regulators and governments, the “ethics” demanded by stakeholders and the “ethics” of individual directors.
By highlighting conflicting ethical underpinnings will allow a discussion to made about potential ethical conflict. Marking Categories for the coursework A mark will be given for each question. The mark will be formed by reference to the following criteria. 1. Has the student answered the specific question posed in their own words using a critical academic approach? 2. What level of technical understanding has been shown? 3. How clear, powerful and effective is the prose? Note: lack of volume will automatically put a student below 40% for most of the categories.
Note: lack of referencing, sub headings and clear layout will generally put a student below 40% for most of the categories. To pass at 40% 1. A reasonable interaction with all the specific descriptive elements of the questions must be shown. There has to be evidence of an attempt at criticality. 2. There must be evidence of technical interaction with the module. 3. The prose must carry explicit meaning in sufficient volume to be able to substantiate the above criteria 1. and 2. How to fail: but still do a lot of work.
1. Give a text book answer about an issue connected with the question – but fail to interact with the specific requirements of the questions. Alternatively, only address a few of the specific sub requirements of each of the questions. 2. Give regurgitated text book definitions and explanations about issues connected with the question. Fail to communicate a clear understanding of the basic issues covered in the lectures. 3. Write in such an unclear manner that markers have to infer meaning. How to score over 70%