ABSTRACT
Academic research on modern corporate governance has accelerated considerably in the last decades. Several scientific journals have chosen corporate governance as their sole subject of study1. In recent decades, the traditional neoclassical view on the company – i.e. the company as an instrument to maximise shareholders’ profits – has come under heavy pressure. Particularly in literature on manage - ment and business ethics, the company is increasingly defined as an array of stakeholders that each pursue their goals in their own way, but at the same time have a common interest in the rise of the total enterprise value. In this approach, the company is no longer a nexus of contracts – a legal construct with the aim of increasing shareholder value – but a social organisation that balances the interests of participants. In both concepts the board of the company functions as the heart of the organisation and has therefore an explicit moral responsibility to balance the different positions justly. This chapter focuses on the role of the company in the economy, with special focus on management, morality and compliance.
