Conclusion

Abstract

AbstractThe empirical analysis of the US and German systems of corporate governance presented in this book has highlighted the prevalence of organizational control across industry and over time. In both cases, the institutional foundations for organizational control were laid in the late nineteenth century, yet the comparison of the systems of governance reveals that they have taken very different forms in these two countries, with important economic and political repercussions. Furthermore, governance institutions in both the USA and Germany have evolved substantially, so that in both cases the essence of organizational control has changed considerably over the course of the twentieth century. The book has tried to illustrate the advantages of the organizational control theory for understanding the complex interaction between institutions of corporate governance and economic performance across countries and over time, and has argued that it is only by taking seriously the dynamics of enterprises and economies, that the relationship between corporate governance and corporate performance as it has existed and as it is evolving can be understood. However, there is a need for much more detailed empirical analysis in order to understand the economic logic of systems of corporate governance, and the need for further research can be identified at various levels of analysis, which are discussed.