EURAM - European Academy of Management

Thematic Conference - Corporate Governance

ACCOUNTING, CONTROL & PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT LAB

With the contribution of ACPM Lab

2nd International Governance Workshop

Understanding governance: Value creation for whom?

2015: 11-12 June, Barcelona

CALL for PAPERS

Throughout history, political, technological and social changes have modified the organisation of societies regarding creating and distributing wealth, for example, ways of allocating resources where the fundamental problem is the struggle over the control of the means (or factors) of production. The recent social protest all over the world (e.g. Arab spring, Occupy Wall Street, Southern Europe demonstrations against rigor) and more recently protests in Hong Kong, Burkina Faso, etc. highlight the shift in economic power away from the old classical factors of production (land, labour, capital) to new key resources such as social capital, social media, and “collective intelligence”. What happens to economic power when these new factors of production become central in the equation of overall “social wellbeing”?  How will these “means of production” be controlled and by whom?

Contemporary definitions of “good governance” are typically centred upon the ability of a business to achieve its goals while being sustainable in creating value. However, in focusing in the past on shareholders as the main contributors of (financial) resources to companies, the wider interests of stakeholders and society in general were overlooked.

As the economic centres of wealth creation and power shift the question arises as to what is "good governance" in this emerging context of uncertainty and opportunity.  Do we need simply more effective governance or do the symptoms of growing disaffection evident in spreading flash points of ideological and political conflict signify a more deep-seated precursor to social and economic revolution?  More precisely, are we seeing the end of western capitalism and the advent of new social power or are we merely experiencing a correction in the existing capital power structures as they evolve across the global economy? Do we already have models of social organisation that might provide a better blueprint for revolutionary change in the way social and economic wealth is created and shared?  And given that new and emerging forms of business and wealth generation are evolving rapidly away from those driven by the industrial revolution, is the architecture designed to govern the corporations that were the hallmark of western industrial development still relevant and appropriate for the new economy?

With reference to this theme, the 2015 workshop invites the presentation of thoughtful papers on a wide range of topics that may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Governance and family capitalism
• Governance and growth in entrepreneurial firms
• Boards and gender differences; social power and corporate elites
• Boards and firm life cycles
• Standardised governance regulations and boards (Global convergence? Western capitalism? Corporate democracy? “New governance”?)
• Governance: country and business culture.
• Transparency and (re)distribution in Global Environmental Governance
• Governance, happiness and development

New perspectives and critical debate in papers on these topics is encouraged

Silke Machold, Professor of Corporate Governance, Joint Head of Management Research Centre. University of Wolverhampton Business School

Important dates

Workshop fees

Euros (VAT incl.)

• Early Bird Fee (up to 15 May 2015):  205€
• Regular Fee (16 May - 31 May 2015):  245€
• Late Fee (up to 10 June 2015):  275€
• On-site Registration Fee: 300€

Workshop Organizing Committee

Wafa Khlif, Toulouse Business School Barcelona, Spain (w.khlif(@)tbs-education.es)

Coral Ingley, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand (coral.ingley(@)aut.ac.nz)

Lotfi Karoui, Ecole de Management-Normandie, France (lkaroui(@)em-normandie.fr)