Comments on: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/10/20/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss/ Korea... in Blog Format Tue, 2 Dec 2008 03:33:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Brendon Carr http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/10/20/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss/#comment-114064 Brendon Carr Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:11:11 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/10/20/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss/#comment-114064 For the record, though, family ownership/control of corporations is in fact the dominant form of corporate governance, especially in the case of publicly traded corporations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The American/British experience of separation of ownership and management is actually fairly deviant from the world historical perspective of corporate governance -- whether or not it's necessarily a superior model is what's being questioned by the "Asian Values" gang. (I would tend to say that our way is better, but that's me.) Even in the United States there are plenty of family-controlled corporations which trade shares on public markets -- think Ford Motor Company. Job security there is tough if your name is not Ford. The Fords maintain control through the establishment of special classes of stock with diluted voting rights for non-Fords; the Korean Commercial Code, however, has in the past not allowed that kind of thing. Perhaps it should, since it's definitely in their basic makeup to want to hold onto "ownership" rights even though the law says it's illegal. For the record, though, family ownership/control of corporations is in fact the dominant form of corporate governance, especially in the case of publicly traded corporations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The American/British experience of separation of ownership and management is actually fairly deviant from the world historical perspective of corporate governance — whether or not it’s necessarily a superior model is what’s being questioned by the “Asian Values” gang. (I would tend to say that our way is better, but that’s me.)

Even in the United States there are plenty of family-controlled corporations which trade shares on public markets — think Ford Motor Company. Job security there is tough if your name is not Ford. The Fords maintain control through the establishment of special classes of stock with diluted voting rights for non-Fords; the Korean Commercial Code, however, has in the past not allowed that kind of thing. Perhaps it should, since it’s definitely in their basic makeup to want to hold onto “ownership” rights even though the law says it’s illegal.

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