Theoretical Exploration of Selected Corporate Governance Challenges

Corporate governance denotes ‘the relationships among the participants in determining the direction and performance of corporations' (Monks and Minow, 2001). It tackles the intrinsic nature, purpose, integrity and identity of the corporation, as wells as its strategic direction, socio-economic and cultural context, externalities and constituencies (Tipurić, 2008, 2011). Governance processes operate at multiple levels, which is reflected in definitions of corporate governance. Narrow meaning refers to the governance of the corporation in the interest of dominant stakeholder groups (usually the shareholders), raising the issues of board structure and performance, executive compensation, disclosure and accountability of management to shareholders (including the minority ones). Broader meaning of governance denotes legal and habitual frameworks defining corporations and governing the pursuit of business within society (Hendry, 1998a), and involves a more extensive concept of accountability to stakeholders. Despite the prevalence of the former approach in research and policy, governance failures of particular corporations in developed economies and the difficulties of Central and Eastern European countries to build effective corporate governance regimes provoke questions whether these problems should solely be attributed to the shortcomings of particular individuals and corporations, or whether they are symptoms of more systemic governance failures