Corporate Governance [Paperback]

Robert A. G. Monks (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 155786490X | ISBN-13: 978-1557864901 | Publication Date: January 17, 1995 | Edition: 1

This is the first comprehensive textbook to focus on corporate governance - the most important development in business over the last decade. The abuses and excesses of the takeover era and the exponential growth of the institutional investor have transformed the roles of the shareholders, managers, and the directors of publicly held companies.
Including selected outside materials and extensive case studies on companies such as American Express, General Motors and Time Warner, this text illuminates and explains the complexities of corporate governance.
An indispensable resource for undergraduate and MBA students of business, law and public policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... If I had to choose one book among the dozens available to explain and illuminate the complexities of corporate governance, this definitive treatise would be it." Hugh Parker

"... a fresh, thoughtful, and timely look at the problem of corporate governance ... a little gem." Joseph A. Grundfest, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, USA

"This book will provide a fascinating read for anyone with a keen interrest in the subject. Coverage of all the major issues is extremely comprehensive..... Corporate Governance is rich in examples of both good and questionable practice and it attempts to deliver a powerful message" THES, May 97

Book Description

In the wake of the recent dramatic series of corporate meltdowns: Enron; Tyco; Adelphia; WorldCom; the timely new edition of this successful text provides students and business professionals with a welcome update of the key issues facing managers, boards of directors, investors, and shareholders.In addition to its authoritative overview of the history, the myth and the reality of corporate governance, this new edition has been updated to include:analysis of the latest cases of corporate disaster;An overview of corporate governance guidelines and codes of practice in developing and emerging marketsnew cases: Adelphia; Arthur Andersen; Tyco Laboratories; Worldcom; Gerstner's pay packet at IBMOnce again in the new edition of their textbook, Robert A. G. Monks and Nell Minow show clearly the role of corporate governance in making sure the right questions are asked and the necessary checks and balances in place to protect the long-term, sustainable value of the enterprise.A CD-ROM containing a comprehensive case study of the Enron collapse, complete with senate hearings and video footage, accompanies the text. Further lecturer resources and links are available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/monks --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155786490X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557864901
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,085,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This fascinating governance "encyclopedia" has it all!, February 6, 1998

By 

Alexandra R. Lajoux (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Corporate Governance (Paperback)

If you want a single-volume resource on the topic of corporate governance, I urge you to beg, borrow, steal--or better yet, in the spirit of free enterprise, buy with a click from Amazon--Corporate Governance, now heading for another printing due to popular demand. Monks, a former Labor Department official, and Minow, an attorney by training, go beyond the "letter" of corporate governance and into its spirit in this monumental work, a sequel to their Power and Accountability (1991). Whether you are searching for sweeping theories, or simply want a place to look up key phrases from "agency costs" to "zones of ambiguity;" whether you want to travel through General Motors history or revisit Ross Perot's "pet rocks" quip, you will find what you are looking for here. "What is a corporation?" the authors begin. "It is the relationship among various participants in determining the direction and performance of corporations." Monks and Minow go on to define these participants as the shareholders, management, and board of diretors, devoting a section to each. Then comes an overview of corporate governance in over a dozen countries. One of the best features in the book is the series of Socratic questions that appear in italics throughout. One follows: "How do we create a governance and ownership structure that gives employees the optimal role, from the perspective of fairness (to maximize their contributions) and productivity (to maximize their future contributions?)" How indeed? Read this book to find out.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An academically oriented book., April 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Corporate Governance (Paperback)

Would be an excellent tome for students of business. Also would be applicable for folks who are more interested in the corporate governance from a policy side. It's focus is publicly held companies, so if you're looking for a practitioners guide on how to 'get things done' in a startup world, this book doesn't address any of that. That doesn't make it a bad book, it just has it's focus on public companies.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much stuff, too little structure, March 7, 2006

By 

grouchy (exiled into purgatory. for real.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Corporate Governance (Paperback)

I do not like this book.

1. It lacks structure. The book flows in all direction at the same time, desperately looking for a purpose.

2. The clutter is overwhelming and the 400+ pages fail to reveal the purpose of the book. I see two alternatives - a review of corporate governance directed to non-academic use or an academic textbook in corporate governance directed to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. No book can accomplish both without failing in one of the two. I believe this book is a poor, but the only, choice as a textbook in US corporate governance. Mallin's corporate governance book is in many ways superior to Monks and Minow. Blair's book explains the same problems as Monks and Minow does in 60 pages.

3. The book does not figure out the main issues in corporate governance and structure the book around them. The three ideas, ownership - monitoring - performance, the book uses are too artificial and overly simplistic and this simplicity is completely lost in the book. Actually, these three ideas are the only clear areas in the book. I would suggest the following "great themes". Ownership, management, control, performance, and stakeholders is probably a better way to look at the main areas in corporate governance that the existant.

5. The ideas of corporate governance are either "best practice" or what is "a failure". You cannot economize explanations, but the book has scores of marginal areas that seem to overwhelm and confuse the readers without belonging to "best practices" or " failures". These marginal cases, references, thoughts, and ideas make it almost impossible to understand what is the purporse of the discussion. Case in point: dealing with greenmail under the board of directors?

6. The book is long.

7. Either add more cases to the book, or offer the cases separately. Make sure that the cases are even. Having a 20 page case on GM is excellent.

8. As a trained lawayer, I have not had any problems following the book. As a finance PhD doing research in corporate governance, I have no problems following the book. But any non-lawyer or layman, is likely to find the material frustrating, overwhelming and muddy. The material is not accessible, barely understandable, and hardly beneficial to the average reader (who is very unlikely a JD with a finance PhD).