Financial System and Corporate Governance Around the World. Lessons for Emerging Markets

Authors: Nicola Miglietta Enrico Battisti This work explores the main features of the models of Corporate Governance around the world. The goal is to verify the existence of an optimal model of Corporate Governance that could be a datum point for Emerging Markets. Corporate Governance is deeply tied to different Financial Systems. Usually a Corporation is a kind of partnership amongst managers – employees who operate the firm and commit human resource instead of financial capital – and outside investors. Its financial objective is to maximize shareholders’ value. According to United States and United Kingdom Corporation Law, managers are legally required to act in the interests of the shareholders. In this sense, the Board of Directors is supposed to represent shareholders’ interest, however laws and traditions differ from country to country and it is common to distinguish in between market-based and bank-based systems.We could divide the article in two parts. The first part explores the relations between Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance. The second one examines the Developed Markets’ Corporate Governance Models (Anglo-Saxon Countries, Germany, Japan, Italy) and the Emerging one (most notably Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China) in order to identify if the differences between countries can be regarded as more or less relevant. In conclusion, the work highlights the key elements of a Corporate Governance pointing out social and company’ benefits and it identifies in a system of Network Governance, founded on a more active involvement of all stakeholders, a reference point for the Emerging Markets.