Corporate crime in China has garnered worldwide attention and in the recent years we have witnessed positive legislative and administrative efforts by the Chinese government to prevent corporate misconducts.

This book first defines the meaning of corporate crime in China and answers the basic questions of what corporate crime is through real life cases. Then, it introduces the history of corporate crime and reviews academic studies through these key questions. The book also discusses the scope of corporate crime, the basis of corporate criminal liability, the criminal liability of State organizations, the corporate compliance programs and corporate criminal liability and the procedural issues. The book also provides suggestions from a comparative perspective by referring to the latest global developments on corporate crime. In the concluding chapter, the book discusses the goals of corporate crime prevention policy and comes up with feasible reform proposals with a brief summary on the existing problems of the current policies through a macro perspective.

There is no existing book that deals with the legislation and criminal justice practices of corporate crime in China and this book will help to shed insight into the subject.

This book explores how the globalization of securities markets has affected market manipulation and insider trading. It delves into the responses of securities regulators, discussing new regulations designed to deter such misconduct, as well as they ways in which detection, investigation and prosecution techniques are adapting to tackle insider trading and market manipulation that crosses international boundaries. Janet Austin concisely and clearly explains changes to securities markets that have taken place over the last few decades and their impacts, as well as the main detection and investigative techniques of securities regulators. She also provides an analysis of how the work of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is assisting securities regulators as they gather information and evidence they need in order to prosecute these market offences. The book concludes with suggestions for the IOSCO and securities regulators to improve their efforts in addressing cross-border market manipulation and insider trading, with a view to enhancing the overall integrity of the securities markets. The approachable analysis and hard-to-find information in this book make it a valuable resource for securities regulators, legal practitioners, and academics.

This book provides comprehensive analysis of the recent enlargement of the EU, shedding light on the rationale behind the EU's decisions to enlarge, examining the side effects these choices have on a range of EU policies and particularly on the effect of the Acquis on candidate countries. Emphasis is placed on the area of company law, which occupies a central part in a country's economic planning and therefore its commercial law. Past enlargements are thoroughly explained and the potential impact of the new political landscape in Europe in the wake of the popular rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty on future enlargements is evaluated. A comparative methodology for commercial law drafting in transition and developing economies is put forward and the book concludes with a complete draft of a model company law for transition (and developing) economies. The aim is to provide a template for discussion. This book will be of great interest to those interested in considering the influence that the prospect of EU membership has on transition countries in general, the emphasis being on laws vital to emerging market economies, particularly commercial and company law.

The enlightened shareholder value principle (ESV) was formulated during the comprehensive review of UK company law by the Company Law Steering Group in the late 1990s and early 2000's and requires directors of companies to act in the collective best interests of shareholders. The principle was taken up by the then UK Government and is now embedded in the Companies Act 2006. The emergence of the principle constitutes an important development in corporate governance, particularly in determining what directors must consider when managing the affairs of their companies. This book explains and analyzes the nature of ESV and its contribution to corporate governance whilst also examining where it fits into the existing theoretical landscape. Andrew Keay traces the development of the principle of ESV and considers it in the context of the existing principles which have historically influenced corporate governance. In doing so, the book draws on several empirical studies thereby enabling us to gauge how the ESV principle is addressed in commercial practice. Keay goes on to compare ESV with the constituency statutes that apply in the US in order to determine whether anything can be learnt from the American experience. The book also assesses the reaction of other jurisdictions to the advent of ESV and considers what impact ESV will have on financial institutions and non-financial institutions in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Although much has been written about innovation in the past several years, not all parts of the innovation lifecycle have been given the same treatment. This volume focuses on the important first step of arranging financing for innovation before it is made, and explores the feedback effect that innovation can have on finance itself. The book brings together a diverse group of leading scholars in order to address the financing of innovation. The chapters address three key areas, intellectual property, venture capital, and financial engineering in the capital markets, in order to provide fresh and insightful analyses of current and future economic developments in financing innovation. Chapters on intellectual property cover topics including innovation in law-making, orphan business models, and the use of intellectual property to protect financial engineering innovations and developing intellectual property regimes in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The book also covers the tax treatment of venture capital founders, the treatment of preferred stock by the Delaware Courts, asset-backed lending hedge funds, and corporate governance for small businesses after the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, and students in law, innovation, finance, and business.

Institutional shareholder participation has long been considered as vital to good corporate governance yet its potential does not seem to have been realized. The recent banking crisis exposed the passivity of some institutional shareholders, many of whom appear to have chosen to sell their stakes in the banks rather than intervene or challenge the board when they realized the strategies followed by the banks were excessively risky. Institutional shareholders' role to scrutinize and monitor the decisions of boards and executive management in the banking sector in the UK is considered by many to be a failure, resulting in the phenomenon of 'ownerless corporations', as described by Lord Myners. In China, despite the fast rising of institutional investment in the securities market, institutional shareholders have not yet played a contributory role in monitoring corporate managers in listed companies. Drawing on empirical evidence this book seeks to systematically analyses institutional shareholders' incentives to activism to explain when and why shareholder activism will occur. The book puts forward a model which explains the factors that determine institutional shareholders' propensity for activism. The model both elaborates the collective benefits of activism as a means of achieving managerial accountability asks whether and when shareholder activism is rational for any individual shareholder. The book then goes to on to apply these finding to both the UK and China in order to explain the varying levels of shareholder activism in each jurisdiction. The book is the first to take an in-depth look at institutional share-holder activism in China providing prescriptions to promote greater shareholder engagement and exploring the potential it holds for improving corporate governance in the region.

Post-crisis Trajectories of European Corporate Governance offers a critical reassessment of policy and institutional elements of corporate governance as it relates to the member states of the European Union. * Presents a critical overview of contemporary corporate governance practices in the EU * Reassesses current European corporate governance policies * Questions whether there should be a unified corporate governance trajectory in the EU * If such a trajectory exists, must it be completely reoriented or would a simple upgrade of current arrangements suffice * Features contributions from a variety of experts on corporate governance

Rising defaults in the financial market in 2007, the current widespread economic recession and debt crisis have added impetus to existing doubts about companies' governance, and cast new light on future trends in shareholder-oriented corporate practice. Taking account of these developments in the field and realising the current need for changes in governance, this book offers a thorough exploration of the origins, recent changes and future development of the corporate objective-shareholder primacy. Legal and theoretical aspects are examined so as to provide a comprehensive and critical account of the practices reflecting shareholder primacy in the UK. In the wake of the financial crisis, this book investigates the direction of future policy, with particular attention to changes in governing rules and regulations and their implications for preserving the objective of shareholder primacy. It examines current UK and EU reform proposals calling for long-term and socially-responsible corporate performance, and the potential friction between proposed legal changes and commercial practices. This book will be useful to researchers and students of company law, and business and management studies.

When corporations carry on their business in a grossly negligent manner, or take a cavalier approach to risk management, the consequences can be catastrophic. The harm may be financial, as occurred when such well-regarded companies as Enron, Lehman Brothers, Worldcom and Barings collapsed, or it may be environmental, as illustrated most recently by the Gulf oil spill. Sometimes deaths and serious injuries on a mass scale occur, as in the Bhopal gas disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, the Paris crash of the Concorde, the capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise, and rail crashes at Southall, Paddington and Hatfield in England.What role can the law play in preventing such debacles and in punishing the corporate offenders? This collection of thematic papers and European country reports addresses these questions at both a theoretical and empirical level. The thematic papers analyse corporate criminal liability from a range of academic disciplines, including law, sociology/criminology, economics, philosophy and environmental studies, whilst the country reports look at the laws of corporate crime throughout Europe, highlighting both common features and irreconcilable differences between the various jurisdictions.

Directors are key decision-makers in any organisation, whether it is in the public sector, a family business or a transnational company. The UK Companies Act 2006 codified directors duties for the first time and describes the director as the most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole .

This book addresses key tensions and problems involved in the duties and responsibilities of the director in promoting success, including corporate culture and credibility, trust, risk and uncertainty, collective responsibility, and the degree of control. The book considers directors decision-making in both private and public sector organisations and explicitly examines aspects of decision-making during periods of financial distress. The book compares the legal contexts of director s decisions in the UK to those of the USA, Germany and Australia, and takes an interdisciplinary approach in its combination of management theory, economic theory and behavioural studies. In doing so the book addresses issues key to the understanding of corporate governance in light of recent financial crises."

Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice explores how corporations can be held accountable for their role in past human rights violations when a country is making a transition from conflict or repression to peace and democracy. It breaks new ground in theorizing the linkages between the areas of transitional justice and corporate accountability and analyzing problems frequently arising where the two fields meet in practice, for example where the role of corporations in past human rights violations is examined by truth and reconciliation commissions or in the course of litigation. The book provides an overview of the current trends in law and in legal and political discussion relating to both areas, as well as in-depth analysis of how tools of corporate accountability and transitional justice can complement each other in order to achieve the best outcomes for bringing justice to victims and lasting peace to societies. The authors bring extensive experience from diverse professional backgrounds and jurisdictions to provide the first sustained attempt to address this link. The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, policymakers and activists working in the areas of transitional justice; corporate accountability; and business and human rights.

An examination of the relationship between competition and the deregulation and liberalisation of the US and European air transport sectors reveals that the structure of the air transport sector has undergone a number of significant changes. A growing number of airlines are entering into horizontal and vertical cooperative arrangements and integration including franchising, codeshare agreements, alliances, 'virtual mergers' and in some cases, mergers with other airlines, groups of airlines or other complementary lines of business such as airports. This book considers the current legal issues affecting the air transport sector incorporating recent developments in the industry, including the end of certain exemptions from EU competition rules, the effect of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, the accession of new EU Member States and the Lisbon Treaty. The book explores the differing European and US regulatory approaches to the changes in the industry and examines how airlines have remained economically efficient in what is perceived as a complex and confused regulatory environment. Competition and Regulation in the Airline Industry will be of particular interest to academics and students of competition law as well as EU law.

This book is the first to address the multi-faceted influence of the global financial crisis on the national constitutions of the countries most affected. By tracing the impact of the crisis on formal and informal constitutional change, sovereignty issues, fundamental rights protection, regulatory reforms, jurisprudence, the augmentation of executive power, and changes in the party system it addresses all areas of the current constitutional law dialogue and aims to become a reference book with regard to the interaction between financial crises and constitutions. The book includes contributions from prominent experts on Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the USA providing a critical analysis of the effects of the financial crisis on the constitution. The volume's extensive comparative chapter pins down distinct constitutional reactions towards the financial crisis, building an explanatory theory that accounts for the different ways constitutions responded to the crisis. How and why constitutions formed their reactions in the face of the financial crisis unravels throughout the book.

This book, first published in 1982, focuses on a specific area of commercial law: the Sale of Goods Act. The book contains key cases and statutes relating to the sale of goods, each prefaced by a contextualising introduction. Notes and questions are also included, as are the full texts of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the relevant parts of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

The control of multinational corporations is an area of law that has attracted immense attention both at national and international level. In recognition of the importance of the subject matter, the United Nations Secretary General has appointed a special representative to work in this area. The book discusses the current trend by MNCs to self regulate by employing voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Olufemi Amao argues that the CSR concept is insufficient to deal with externalities emanating from MNCs' operations, including human rights violations. Amao maintains that for CSR to be effective, the law must engage with the concept. In particular, he examines how the law can be employed to achieve this goal. While noting that the control of MNCs involves regulation at the international level, it is argued that more emphasis needs to be placed on possibilities at home, in States and host States where there are stronger bases for the control of corporations. This book will be useful to academic scholars, students, policy makers in developing countries, UN, UN Agencies, the African Union and its agencies, the European Union and its agencies and other international policy makers.

Baron Rosen's Babi/Baha'i archives presents private letters and diplomatic correspondence from the nineteenth century, preserved among the prominent Russian scholar Baron Victor Rosen's materials in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg branch. The materials cast light on the first studies of the Babi and Baha'i Faiths, new religious phenomena which, in Baron Rosen's time, were emerging in Persia. Iran has always been a strategic concern of Russia's geopolitical interests and the traditional importance which has been given to Persia has manifested itself in hundreds of documents and writings collected by the pre-revolutionary Russian diplomats and scholars. These documents, large parts of which have never been published before, reveal new information on the attitude of the Russian government towards religious and ethnic minorities as well as towards related issues within the Russian Empire and abroad. Bringing together materials in Russian, English, Persian, Arabic and French related to the Babi and Baha'i Faiths from Rosen's archive in the original languages with an English translation, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers in the fields of Iranian Studies, Religion and Middle East Studies amongst others.

Africa is playing an increasingly more significant role in the domain of international intellectual property law, and this book underlines the contributions made by African countries as a group to the development of the current international IP system. It examines in detail their breakthrough proposals and initiatives at the WTO, WIPO and WHO with regard to IP and public health; IP and traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources; IP and biodiversity; and exceptions and limitations to copyright. Using Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia as examples, it examines the systems under which these IP subject matters are protected. From a regional perspective, the book also analyses some initiatives taken by ARIPO, OAPI and the African Union to protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, especially in relation to protection of the rights of local farming communities and breeders, regulation of access to biological resources, genetically modified organisms and the proposed establishment of the new Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). Demonstrating how Africa is now an active player on the international IP scene, this book will be invaluable to those interested in intellectual property law, business and commercial law, and African and international law.

In the last twenty five years, company law in the Commonwealth Caribbean has undergone dramatic changes, from a model influenced by English law to a new, harmonised collection of regional legislation based on the Caricom and CLI model Acts that vary substantially across Caricom member states. The variation within Caribbean company law presents an enormous challenge, both in terms of the breadth of the subject and in addressing the difference in provisions of one state's Company Law Act as opposed to another. Using the Caricom model Act and CLI model Act as a basis for its structure, Commonwealth Caribbean Company Law examines and compares regional implementation of company law in an accessible and comprehensive manner that will be invaluable to students and practitioners in the region.

In the last twenty five years, company law in the Commonwealth Caribbean has undergone dramatic changes, from a model influenced by English law to a new, harmonised collection of regional legislation based on the Caricom and CLI model Acts that vary substantially across Caricom member states. The variation within Caribbean company law presents an enormous challenge, both in terms of the breadth of the subject and in addressing the difference in provisions of one state's Company Law Act as opposed to another. Using the Caricom model Act and CLI model Act as a basis for its structure, Commonwealth Caribbean Company Law examines and compares regional implementation of company law in an accessible and comprehensive manner that will be invaluable to students and practitioners in the region.

The enlightened shareholder value principle (ESV) was formulated during the comprehensive review of UK company law by the Company Law Steering Group in the late 1990s and early 2000's and requires directors of companies to act in the collective best interests of shareholders. The principle was taken up by the then UK Government and is now embedded in the Companies Act 2006. The emergence of the principle constitutes an important development in corporate governance, particularly in determining what directors must consider when managing the affairs of their companies. This book explains and analyzes the nature of ESV and its contribution to corporate governance whilst also examining where it fits into the existing theoretical landscape. Andrew Keay traces the development of the principle of ESV and considers it in the context of the existing principles which have historically influenced corporate governance. In doing so, the book draws on several empirical studies thereby enabling us to gauge how the ESV principle is addressed in commercial practice. Keay goes on to compare ESV with the constituency statutes that apply in the US in order to determine whether anything can be learnt from the American experience. The book also assesses the reaction of other jurisdictions to the advent of ESV and considers what impact ESV will have on financial institutions and non-financial institutions in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Since the implementation of the European Directive on Takeover Bids, a European common legal framework governs regulation of takeovers in EU Members States. The European Directive on Takeover Bids was adopted in April 2004, and implemented in the UK and in other Member States on 20th May 2006. The Directive seeks to regulate takeovers by way of protecting investors, and harmonising takeover laws in Europe. In facilitating the restructuring of companies through takeovers, the Directive aims at reinforcing the free movement of capital. Takeovers and the European Legal Framework studies the European Community Directive on Takeover Bids, in order to provide greater understanding of both the impact and effect of the European legal framework of takeover regulation. It firstly looks at the Directive from a British perspective, focusing on the impact of the transposition of the Takeover Directive into the UK. The book examines the provisions of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, and discusses the takeover provisions in the Companies Act 2006 that implement the Takeover Directive in the UK, arguing that the Directive will provide a new basis for UK takeover regulation, and that the system will work well. Jonathan Mukwiri goes on to consider the Directive in relation to the EU, arguing that despite its deficiencies, in that Member States are free to opt to restrict takeovers, the Directive provides a useful legal framework by which takeovers are regulated in different jurisdictions. Mukwiri highlights how the freedoms of the EC Treaty and EU Directives interact, and the effects of the Takeover Directive on political considerations in the law-making process in European Community. Moreover, he argues that the future of EU takeover regulation is likely to follow the lead of the UK, making this book relevant to a wide range of policy makers and academics across Europe.

Progressive Corporate Governance for the 21st Century is a wide ranging and ambitious study of why corporate governance is the shape that it is, and how it can be better. The book sets out the emergence of shareholder primacy orientated corporate governance using a study of historical developments in the United Kingdom and the United States. Talbot sees shareholder primacy as a political choice made by governments, not a natural feature of the inevitable market. She describes the periods of progressive corporate governance which governments promoted in the middle of the 20th century using a close examination of the theories of the company which then prevailed. She critically examines the rise of neoliberal theories on the company and corporate governance and argues that they have had a negative and regressive impact on social and economic development. In examining contemporary corporate governance she shows how regulatory styles as informed and described by prevailing regulatory theories, enables neoliberal outcomes. She illustrates how United Kingdom-derived corporate governance codes have informed the corporate governance initiatives of European and global institutions. From this she argues that neoliberalism has re-entered ex command transition economies through those United Kingdom and OECD inspired corporate governance Codes over a decade after the earlier failed and destructive neoliberal prescriptions for transition had been rejected. Throughout, Talbot argues that shareholder primacy has socially regressive outcomes and firmly takes a stand against current initiatives to enhance shareholder voting in such issues as director remuneration. The book concludes with a series of proposals to recalibrate the power between those involved in company activity; shareholders, directors and employees so that the public company can begin to work for the public and not shareholders.

This book introduces law in the context of international business. The basics of law are explored using a clear comparative methodology. International and regional economic institutions are discussed, next to the fundaments of private law. These include contract law, liability law, labour law, company law, privacy law, intellectual property law and international private law. The book goes beyond the usual focus on Western legal systems and uses examples from all over the world to provide students with comprehensive knowledge of business law. It is set up rather broadly, so that it can be used by teachers throughout their entire curriculum. Each chapter ends with a clear summary, and practice questions. Due to its colourful cases, this book is accessible and fun to read.

Despite the continuous addition of regulatory initiatives concerning corporate human rights responsibilities, what we witness more often than not is a situation of corporate impunity for human rights abuses. The Bhopal gas leak examined as a site of human rights violations rather than as a mass tort or an environmental tragedy illustrates that the regulatory challenges that the victims experienced in 1984 have not yet been overcome. This book grapples with and offers solutions to three major regulatory challenges to obligating companies to comply with human rights norms whilst doing business, and asks; why companies should adhere to human rights, what these responsibilities are, and how to ensure that companies comply with their responsibilities.

Building on literature in the fields of law, human rights, business ethics, management, regulation and philosophy, this book proposes a new integrated theory of regulation to overcome inadequacies of the existing regulatory framework in order to humanize business.

This book will be of interest to scholars, students, researchers, policy makers and human rights activists working in the fields of Law, Business and Human Rights.