The Embedded Firm Corporate Governance, Labor, and Finance Capitalism

The globalization of capital markets since the 1980s has been accompanied by a vigorous debate over the convergence of corporate governance standards around the world towards the shareholder model. But even before the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009, the dominance of the shareholder model was challenged with regard to persisting divergences and national differences in corporate law, labor law and industrial relations. This collection explores this debate at an important crossroads, echoing Karl Polanyi's famous observation in 1944 of the disembeddedness of the market from society. Drawing on pertinent insights from scholars, practitioners and regulators in corporate and labor law, securities regulation as well as economic sociology and management theory, the contributions shed important light on the empirical effects on the economy of the shift to shareholder primacy, in light of a comprehensive reconsideration of the global context, policy goals and regulatory forms which characterize market governance today.

List of figures; List of tables; 1. Introduction: corporate governance after the 'end of history': investigating the new 'Great Transformation' Cynthia Williams and Peer Zumbansen; Part I. Historical Trajectories of Business and Regulation: 2. Corporate governance and financial crisis in the long run Simon Deakin; 3. Financialism: a (very) brief history Lawrence E. Mitchell; 4. Legitimating power: the changing status of the board of directors Dalia Tsuk Mitchell; 5. Engaging corporate boards: the limits of liability rules in modern corporate governance William T. Allen; 6. The primacy of Delaware and the embeddedness of the firm Fenner Stewart; 7. The new embeddedness of the corporation: corporate social responsibility in the knowledge society Peer Zumbansen; Part II. New Interests, New Shareholder Constellations, New Landscapes: 8. Beyond the Berle and Means paradigm: private equity and the new capitalist order Stephen F. Diamond; 9. Pension funds as owners and as financial intermediaries: a review of recent Canadian experience Simon Archer; 10. Credit derivatives market design: creating fairness and sustainability Janis Sarra; 11. The EU Takeovers Directive: a shareholder or stakeholder model? Blanaid Clarke; 12. 'Law and finance': inaccurate, incomplete and important Ruth V. Aguilera and Cynthia A. Williams; Part III. Labor's Evolution in the Economy: 13. Labor and finance in the United States Sanford M. Jacoby; 14. The conflicting logic of markets and the management of production Suzanne Konzelmann and Frank Wilkinson; 15. Organising workers globally - the need for public policy to regulate investment John Evans; 16. From governance to political economy: insights from a study of relations between corporations and workers Harry W. Arthurs and Claire Mummé; Part IV. The Transnational Embedded Firm and the Financial Crisis: 17. The intellectual foundations of the global financial crisis: analysis and proposals for reform Frank Jan De Graaf and Cynthia A. Williams; 18. Why executive pay matters to innovation and inequality William Lazonick; 19. Products, perimeters and politics: systemic risk and securities regulation Mary Condon; 20. Modernizing pension fund legal standards for the twenty-first century Keith Johnson and Frank Jan De Graaf; Part V. Conclusion: 21. Conclusion: evaluation, policy proposals and research agenda Cynthia A. Williams and Peer Zumbansen; Index.