Courses
Governing the Corporation:
The Center’s signature course at the School of Management, taught by Ira M. Millstein and Anne Simpson, Executive Director of the ICGN, studies the relationship among management, the board of directors, and shareholders. It explores the origins of business ethics, law, and finance; the parameters of ownership rights; laws and regulation; best practices; media and public attention; and the interests of other stakeholders, within which corporate leaders’ discretion and integrity are tested. The class utilizes first-hand accounts from guest-lecturer practitioners and case studies commissioned by the Center on companies such as General Motors, Cadbury’s, and Lenovo. It will be taught again in Fall 2009.
In addition, two new corporate governance courses are being offered by the Center's affliates:
Independent Research Project Capital Markets - Evolution or Chaos
This independent research project explores the changes in capital markets that are driving the new agenda for boards, managers, shareholders and policy-makers. Students will be invited to join the enquiry through choosing one of three subjects: (i) the change in ownership patterns and the implications for managers and corporate directors; (ii) the growth of new forms of financial engineering, its consequences, and the need (if any) for regulatory action; and (iii) the forms of shareholder activism which may have been occasioned by new ownership patterns and financial engineering. Later in the term the students will present the results of their research to the Professors in writing. It is being taught in Fall 2008 and the Professors will be available for consultation during the term.
Corporate Governance: Board Leadership in Turbulent Times:
The course involves lectures by Professors Millstein and Simpson and other experienced practitioners in the field of corporate governance, as well as case study presentations and class discussion. It will teach the basic elements of corporate governance: corporate structure and the respective roles of management, the board of directors and investors in today’s complex and competitive global capital markets. Emphasis will be placed on the recent changes in the capital markets by the introduction of “new” owners (hedge funds, private equity, and sovereign wealth funds) and complex financial instruments, which impact the behavior of investors, boards and managers. While the corporate form is dictated by law, how management, the board and investors fulfill their roles is largely a discretionary matter. Is there a “superior” set of practices which would help ensure that the corporation is operating in furtherance of its mission to enhance shareholder value while serving the interests of society as a whole? It will be taught in the Spring 2009 with the companion and supplement to this course MGT 840, “Corporate Governance and Finance” taught by Martijn Cremers, which focuses on the financial perspective of the investor.
