The fundamental problems associated with corporate governance are not due to fraud of the sort that has come to light in recent corporate scandals on both sides of the Atlantic. Rather, Europe’s recent interest in corporate governance is driven by the amtition, set forth in the Lisbon Declaration, to make Europe the world’s most dynamic economic region. According to the EU Commission, the slow pace of corporate change in Europe is largely due to shortcomings in European corporate governance.
The EU Commission’s ambition to break up existing control structures poses a challenge to the Swedish model of corporate governance, based on concentrated ownership and various instruments for separating ownership from control.
This year’s Economic Policy Group Report is inteded to provide a basis for taking a position on these issues. Its aim is to enrich public discussion in this area with a number of aspects that are both material and neglected. Not least, it points to the contrast beetween the self-image of the business sector and critical perspectives from international social science research and debate.