Socio-Economic Review Advance Access originally published online on October 26, 2005
Socio-Economic Review 2006 4(1):155-174; doi:10.1093/SER/mwj037
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Anglo-American corporate governance and the employment relationship: a case to answer?
1 Roberts Monks Professor of Corporate Governance, Centre for Business Research, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, and Omron Fellow, Institute for Technology, Enterprise and Competitiveness, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan, 2 Millenium Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 3 Reader in Management, School of Management and Organisational Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK and 4 Visiting Professor, School of Management and Organisational Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
Correspondence: s.deakin{at}cbr.cam.ac.uk
The corporate governance environment in the UK and US is generally thought to be hostile to the emergence of cooperative employment relations of the kind exemplified by labour–management partnerships. We discuss case-study evidence from the UK which suggests that, contrary to this widespread perception, enduring and proactive partnerships may develop, in conditions where management can convince shareholders of the long-term gains from this approach, and where other regulatory factors operate to extend the time-horizon for financial returns. We conclude that there is more scope than is commonly allowed for measures which could reconcile liquidity in capital markets with cooperation in labour relations.
Key Words: corporate governance • labour–management partnerships • stakeholding • JEL classification: G34, J53, K22, K23