Independent Directors in Asia : A Historical, Contextual and Comparative Approach

Cover -- Half-title -- Series information -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Table of contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgments -- List of abbreviations -- Introduction -- I The Rise of the Independent Director in the West and Asia -- II Why Asia Matters -- III The Independent Director Defined -- IV Organisation of the Book -- Part I Theoretical Framework -- 1 The Rise of the Independent Director in the West -- I Introduction -- 1 Why Origins Matter -- 2 Independence as a Magic Cure -- 3 Who Is Independent? -- II Historical Origins of the Board of Directors -- 1 Medieval Guilds and Chartered Companies -- 2 The First Joint-Stock Companies -- 3 The Rise of the Executive Director and the Split of the Board -- III From 'Shirtsleeve' Directors to Independent Directors: Developments in the US -- 1 The Era of Inside Directors -- 2 The Battle of the 1970s -- 3 Success of the Monitoring Model -- 4 Scandals, Crises and Reforms after 2000 -- 5 Super-Majority Boards -- 6 The Arrival of Agency Capitalism and Shift to a Shareholder-centric System? -- 7 Too Much of a Good Thing? -- IV The Rise of Independent Directors in Europe -- 1 The UK: Taking the Lead -- 2 The EU: Building on the UK Experience -- 3 Germany: Quick on Outside Directors, Slow on Independent Ones -- V Should the West's Independent Director Migrate East? -- 2 Independent Directors -- I Introduction -- II Independent Directors and the Financial Crisis -- 1 The Regulatory and Quasi-Regulatory Push for Independence -- 2 Scholarly Criticism -- 3 Lawmakers' 'Obsession' with Independence -- III Why Do We Have Independent Directors? -- 1 Improving the Board's Performance -- 2 Criteria of Independence -- IV Challenges to Independence -- 1 Matching Independence with Industry and Ownership Structure -- 2 Empirical Evidence -- 3 Incentive Problems.