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Stakeholder management emphasizes the need for a company to consider the needs of all its stakeholder groups. It lays the structure for stakeholder groups to exercise influence, control, and protect their interest in a company.
Corporate governance lays the foundation for the legal, contractual, and organizational infrastructure that defines each group’s rights and responsibilities.
The principles of governance are fundamentally based on corporate reporting and transparency. The external shareholders can gain financial and non-financial information through annual reports and other company disclosures.
Investors can obtain a wide range of financial and non-financial data of a publicly traded company through various sources such as annual reports, proxy statements, corporate disclosures, investor relations resources, and others. This information encompasses details about the company’s operations, strategic goals, audited financial reports, governance framework, ownership configuration, compensation strategies, transactions with related parties, and associated risks.
Specifically, investors utilize corporate reports and information for the following purposes:
Shareholders are motivated to protect their legal and contractual rights through various procedures that vary depending on businesses and jurisdictions. Some of these procedures are discussed below:
General meetings allow shareholders to participate in company-related discussions and vote on significant corporate matters.
Companies usually hold an annual general meeting (AGM) within a certain period after the end of their financial year. The primary purpose of an AGM is to present shareholders with a company’s annual audited financial statements, provide an overview of a company’s performance over the year, and address any shareholder concerns.
A company or its shareholders can also convene extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) within the year. This should happen whenever significant resolutions requiring shareholder approval are proposed.
Proxy voting allows shareholders who cannot attend a general meeting to authorize someone else to vote on their behalf. It is the most common form of investor participation in meetings. Minority shareholders tend to use proxy voting in an attempt to increase their influence in companies.
Shareholder activism techniques may be employed to force a firm to act in the desired way. An activist shareholder’s primary goal is to increase shareholder value.
Shareholder activism involves directly engaging with a company to encourage action, using proxy fights to pressure management, proposing shareholder resolutions, and publicly highlighting issues of concern.
Shareholders can also employ lawsuits. One common type is shareholder derivative lawsuits. Shareholder derivative lawsuits are legal actions brought by one or more shareholders against the board of directors, management, or controlling shareholders. The plaintiff shareholder in these actions is deemed to be acting on behalf of the company in lieu of its directors and officers who have failed to act appropriately in the interest of the firm and its shareholders.
Corporate takeovers are scenarios in which shareholders of a company hire and fire management to achieve better resource utilization. They can be pursued through a proxy contest where shareholders are persuaded to vote for a group seeking a controlling position on a company’s board. Alternatively, a tender offer strategy can be employed. In this case, shareholders sell their interests directly to the group seeking company control. Lastly, a hostile takeover can be resorted to. This refers to an attempt one company makes to acquire another company without the consent of the company’s management.
Creditors use many mechanisms to protect their interests in a company. These include:
Company shareholders elect a board of directors to provide oversight. The board appoints the top management, is held accountable by shareholders, and is responsible for the overall governance of the company.
The boards usually assign specific tasks to committees drawn from the board members. The core committees include an audit committee, a nominating or governance committee, and a compensation or remuneration committee.
The committees are in charge of considering, monitoring, and acting on issues related to their competence. A committee regularly reports to the board and makes recommendations. Typical board committees are:
Other committees include risk committees, investment committees, and other industry-specific committees.
By managing employee relationships, employers can ensure that their staff members act in the business’s best interests, meet their obligations to the organization, and have the requisite motivation to serve in their roles efficiently.
The rights of employees are primarily secured through labor laws. Labor laws define the standards for employees’ rights and responsibilities. The laws cover working hours, pension plans, hiring and firing practices, and vacation and leave entitlements. Unions seek to influence certain matters that affect employees’ well-being in their jobs.
Employment contracts specify an employee’s rights and responsibilities. However, they do not cover every situation between employees and employers.
Effective human resource policies seek to attract and recruit high-quality employees. To improve employee retention, such policies provide remuneration, training or development, and career growth prospects. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are also used to retain and motivate employees.
Companies sometimes use Codes of Ethics and business conduct to establish their values and standards of ethical and legal behavior that employees are expected to follow.
Customers and suppliers of a firm enter into contracts that define the goods and services that underlie the relationship, the costs and terms of payment, the rights and obligations of each party, and any guarantees. Contracts also outline the steps to be followed and available options in the event of a contract breach.
Governments and regulators create regulations that businesses must abide by. In addition, governments keep track of how well the regulations are being followed. A stricter regulatory framework is applied to industries whose services and goods are more likely to put the public at risk.
Numerous regulatory bodies have implemented corporate governance codes comprised of guiding principles for publicly listed firms. These codes mandate companies to either reveal their compliance with the suggested corporate governance practices or provide reasons for non-compliance, a method known as the “comply or explain” approach.
For instance, in Japan, companies without external directors must justify why the appointment of such directors is not suitable.
Question
Which of the following is most likely a board of a shareholder mechanism used to promote good corporate governance?
- Bond indenture.
- Employment contracts.
- Shareholder derivative lawsuit.
The correct answer is C.
A shareholder derivative lawsuit is a shareholder mechanism used to promote good corporate governance. These are legal actions brought by one or more shareholders against the board of directors, management, or controlling shareholders.
A is incorrect. Bond indentures are credit mechanisms a company’s creditors use to protect their interests in a company. It is a legal document that outlines the components of a bond, a company’s responsibilities, and bondholders’ rights.
B is incorrect. Employment contracts are employee mechanisms used by employees to promote good corporate governance. They specify an employee’s rights and responsibilities in a company.