040017 SE Seminar: Corporate Governance (MA) (2020W)

The course discusses structures of firm's (top level) decision making processes which are often summarized under the label of corporate governance. The course describes the main actors of firm's corporate governance (managing directors, corporate boards, shareholders, and other stakeholders such as employees and debt holders), their functions, and relationships. Particular emphasis will be given to the incentives of these different actors

For different corporate governance instruments and arrangements we will explore two related questions:

1. What are the effects of different corporate governance arrangements on firm's behavior and the outcomes of its different stakeholders.

2. How can an real world corporate governance arrangements be explained as reactions to the different incentives of a firm's stakeholders.

The course covers theoretical and empirical work that attempts to shed light on these questions.

The course consists of lectures, student presentations, and term papers.