ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the potential for ethics and ethical principles to constitute the overarching framework—or meta-framework—that guides and informs choices in the conduct of business and governance policies and principles, and the laws, rules and standards that reflect those choices. It considers the long-standing dynamic between business, government and society by providing an overview of crises in governance and the nature of responses to corporate governance and market failures. The book examines how the consideration of alternative perspectives on the nature, source and expectations of business conduct standards can potentially broaden, enrich and legitimate corporate governance discourse, policy and practice. It provides an overview of corporate governance regulation and standard-setting in three jurisdictions that have been influential in the evolution of modern corporate governance—the United Kingdom, the United States and Western Europe.
