Ownership and Corporate Governance in Russian Industry: A Survey

Abstract

The protection of property rights is more and more recognised as a core issue for improvement of the investment climate in Russia. In many post-privatisation Russian enterprises, shareholder rights have been severely disregarded by self-dealing transactions of the management, share dilution, exclusion of outside shareholders from the Board of Directors and even from shareholder meetings. A more recent development is the abuse of the bankruptcy procedure for the arbitrary redistribution of property. This article reviews the results of the privatisation process and concentrates then on the current structure of ownership and control in the Russian industry and on corporate governance mechanisms in the enterprises. It reviews the legal foundations of corporate governance and gives a detailed view of the state and the institutions of law enforcement. Special attention is paid to the connection between corporate governance and restructuring of enterprises and improved performance.