ABSTRACT

Corporate governance is in crisis mode. Corporate governance involves prescribing what a firm ought to do and then steering the firm in that direction. Corporate governance is "the determination of the broad uses to which organizational resources will be deployed and the resolution of conflicts among the myriad participants in organizations". The development of a global market along with the increased mobility of capital has increased the communication among corporate governance models in different regions of the world. The primacy debate is central to any discussion of ethics and corporate governance. This chapter begins with a discussion of the arguments for and against the shareholder primacy and director primacy perspectives, followed by a presentation of the ethical issues surrounding shareholders, boards of directors and chief executive officers. L. V. Ryan counters that, if the atom did in fact split, it has now fused, due to a combination of shareholder activism and increased concentration in corporate ownership.