Calls for Japan to shape up corporate governance processes: managers “discourage investment by failing to meet global standards” says the Asian Corporate Governance Association. Why India, with its developing corporate governance policies, is failing to establish “shareholder culture”. Hong Kong shareholder activitist quits Hong Kong stock exchange board, “accusing the bourse of deteriorating listing standards and succumbing to political influence.”
In Canada, as David Beatty winds down his term as Managing Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, he discusses findings showing that “[d]espite the belief that greed often lies behind bad governance, the companies with good, transparent boards appear to be the top performers.” An examination of the CEO pay debate: “When the U. S.-based Institute for Policy Studies calculates that chief executives in 2006 earned 364 times more money than the average worker, that is just a statistic. But when the institute points out that as recently as 1980 the multiple was just 42 times, it becomes a trend worth pondering. Is it possible business has changed so much in 30 years that the average chief executive is really worth that much more, relatively, than he or she used to be?”
