Description

This issue of Transfer is on corporate governance. It argues that worker participation is vital to ensuring a company’s success. The issue analyses the influence of worker participation on corporate governance and how it contributes to developing more socially responsible companies.

Key arguments: A “sustainable company”, which focuses more on patient capital and formalised workers’ influence on company decision-making, provides a successful alternative to conventional thinking on transparency which concentrates on informing shareholders. Good corporate governance recognises the interests of all stakeholders - not just shareholders. European Works Councils and worker representation in the boardrooms of European companies help achieve this as do international framework agreements between global trade union confederations and multinational companies. Companies are seeking greater social legitimacy via the establishment of corporate social responsibility policies. Respecting and involving trade unions that represent the workforce is a natural part of CSR development.

Key articles:

• Corporate governance, workers’ participation and CSR: the way to a good company - Norbert Kluge and Isabelle Schömann

• The evolving European system of corporate governance: implications for worker participation - Sigurt Vitols

• The evolution of capitalism and the future of employment policy in the EU - Dominique Bé

• From shareholder value to private equity – the changing face of financialisation of the economy - John Evans and Pierre Habbard

• CSR and corporate governance in Austria - Eva Angerler and Barbara Liegl

• Employee participation, ethics and corporate social responsibility - Isabelle Daugareilh

• International framework agreements: new paths to workers’ participation in multinationals’ governance? - Isabelle Schömann, André Sobzack, Eckhard Voss and Peter Wilke

Coordinators

Table of contents

Editorial

Main articles

• Norbert Kluge and Isabelle Schömann: Corporate governance, workers’ participation and CSR: the way to a good company
• Sigurt Vitols: The evolving European system of corporate governance: implications for worker participation
• Dominique Bé: The evolution of capitalism and the future of employment policy in the EU
• John Evans and Pierre Habbard: From shareholder value to private equity – the changing face of financialisation of the economy
• Eva Angerler and Barbara Liegl: CSR and corporate governance in Austria
• Isabelle Daugareilh: Employee participation, ethics and corporate social responsibility
• Isabelle Schömann, André Sobzack, Eckhard Voss and Peter Wilke: International framework agreements: new paths to workers’ participation in multinationals’ governance?

News and Background

• Workers’ participation in BASF SE and the European debate on corporate governance
  (Norbert Kluge)
• The right of inquiry (enquêterecht) in the Netherlands – a feature for trade unions for adjusting management decisions from outside a company?
  (Robbert van het Kaar)
• Corporate governance reform in Slovenia and the current place of workers’ voice – state of the art in Slovenia under the EU presidency
  (Janja Hojnik)
• Danish board-level representation under revision
  (Herman Knudsen)
• The case for legislation governing the international dimension of corporate social responsibility. Conclusions of the Ester research report
  (Isabelle Daugareilh)
• Employee stakeholders as a subject of corporate governance codes
  (Johannes Heuschmid)
• CSR – Options for works councils and employee representatives on supervisory boards
  (Beate Feuchte)
• Executive pay: where is the stick?
  (Yasmine Chahed and Hans-Erich Müller)
• Collective action vs free movement. The Laval and the Viking cases
  (Séverine Picard)

Book reviews

• Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee
  Corporate Social Responsibility – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  (Thomas Klikauer)
• Marie-Ange Moreau
  Normes sociales, droit du travail et mondialisation : confrontations et mutations
  (Isabelle Schömann)
• Laurence Gay, Emmanuelle Mazuyer and Dominique Nazet-Allouche
  Les droits sociaux fondamentaux. Entre droits nationaux et droits européens
  (Isabelle Schömann)

Reports

• Participation as a success factor
  Concluding conference of the joint project supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, ‘The transfer of innovative corporate cultures’, Rostock-Warnemünde, 18-19 October 2007
  (Kathleen Kollewe)
• International seminar on ‘The sustainable company: reconciling competitiveness with the European Social Model’
  Lisbon, 26 November 2007
  (Romuald Jagodzinski)
• Workers’ board-level representation in France and in Europe – experiences and developments
  Seminar held in Paris, 7 December 2007
  (Marie Noëlle Auberger)
• Transnational collective bargaining in Europe: current situation, problems, prospects
  Europe & Society conference, Paris, 5 and 6 February 2008
  (Vera Glassner and Isabelle Schömann)
• ‘What is behind the upturn?’
  Report on the IMK Konjunkturforum, Berlin, 18 February 2008
  (Andrew Watt)

Pdf of the whole issue