Strong codetermination - stable companies : an empirical analysis in lights of the recent financial crisis

This Mitbestimmungsreport is a brief presentation of a project supported by the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, entitled 'The effects of codetermination in the supervisory board on corporate governance'. The object of study was the role of company codetermination in German companies in relation to company performance and company decision-making during the recent financial and economic crisis. For this purpose companies with and companies without codetermination were compared. The findings show clearly that companies with codetermination not only were more robust during the financial and economic crisis, but also recovered more quickly from its consequences. The study thus underlines the potential of company codetermination for coping with the effects of external shocks, such as the financial and economic crisis.