ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the essential elements of the Anglo-American approach to corporate governance. The cycle of crisis and reform that has proved most pronounced in the Anglo-American market based system is considered with regard to the reform path of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia and New Zealand. The impact of the new doctrine of shareholder value upon the workings of the governance system is investigated, and the direction of the increasingly financially driven markets of these countries considered. The excitement of the new economy that transformed the corporate landscape is discussed, and the experience of the long boom of the 1990s. The resulting Enron failure which precipitated a series of similar corporate collapses, and the dramatic fall of the NASDAQ is put into context. The regulatory aftermath of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and renewed efforts at reform in the UK and Australia are reviewed. This chapter aims to present some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Anglo-American approach to corporate governance in the context of the business development and crises that have occurred.
