@article{2019:gantenbein:corporate_,
title = {Corporate governance in the European context},
year = {2019},
note = {The purpose of corporate governance is to ensure that the owners of
companies are protected against value-decreasing activities by
corporate insiders. The way this protection is pursued, however,
varies among countries and legal systems. While most research so far
has focused on Anglo-Saxon countries, little is known about the
specific differences and drivers of corporate governance structures in
countries belonging to the Civil Law legal system. We examine the
differences in corporate governance of blue-chip companies in Austria,
France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, and analyze the influence of
the institutional framework and the operating environment on corporate
ownership and board structures. Despite convergence trends and the
fact that all included countries apply the Civil Law legal system, we
find that corporate governance structures differ in many aspects and
depend both on the institutional framework and the operating
environment. The institutional framework is important to explain the
distribution of ownership and the independence of the board of
directors, while the operating environment explains the size of the
board and differences in ownership between the financial services
industry and the consumer goods industry.},
journal = {Die Unternehmung},
pages = {122--145},
author = {Gantenbein, Pascal and Volonté, Christophe},
volume = {73},
number = {2}
}