The Future of Corporate Governance in Australia: Will Australia Take the Right Track?

Abstract

Corporate governance deals with the legal and organizational structures that determine the way in which a company is managed. It is about the exercise of power over corporate entities. Throughout the twentieth century, there have been few rules to guide us and a scarcity of fine example to inspire us to achieve excellence in this field. Pettigrew (1992) says corporate governance lacks any form of coherence, either empirically, methodologically or theoretically with only piecemeal attempts to try and understand and explain how the modern corporation is run. Tricker (2000) argues that corporate governance, as yet, does not have an accepted theoretical base or commonly accepted paradigm. He points out that the term 'corporate governance' was scarcely used until the 1980s. Tricker says the nineteenth century saw the foundations laid for modern corporations... the twentieth century was the century of management... now the twenty-first century promises to be the century of governance... as the focus swings to the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the wielding of power over corporate entities world-wide. In this paper, we provide an overview of the historical context of corporate governance, analyze some of the international and domestic trends in this field, identify some of the catalysts for change, look at some alternatives that we could consider and, conclude with thoughts on the future of corporate governance in Australia.