mission et composition du conseil d’administration | Page 29

Alors que Theresa May a fait part de son intérêt d’importer en Grande-Bretagne le système allemand, MM. Horst Eidenmüller,  Mathias Habersack, Caspar Behme et Lars Klöhn  reviennent sur la pertinence de cette proposition en jetant un regard prudent (de chercheurs !) sur ce système : « Corporate Co-Determination German-Style as a Model for the UK? » (18 juillet 2016).

On 13 July 2016, Theresa May took up office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Only shortly before, she had made headlines when she proposed to adopt European-style worker representation on the boards of leading companies.

Corporate co-determination hence seems to gain a certain degree of popularity with the British government – which is highly astonishing, considering that it was the UK which most fiercely fought against co-determination on a European level. It was mainly the diverging views of the UK and Germany on co-determination which have thwarted projects like the Draft Fifth Company Law Directive or the establishment of a European Private Company (Societas Privata Europaea, SPE). It is downright ironic that while the UK now shows an interest in co-determination, the concept is being questioned in Germany after decades of lying dormant. The reason for the new German discussion of co-determination are doubts regarding the compatibility of its specific form of co-determination with higher-ranking Union law. This post provides a brief overview of the most recent developments in German co-determination law that were the focus of a joint Oxford/Munich conference at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich in March 2016.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Bel article à parcourir au Wall Street Journal : « The Morning Risk Report: CEO Activism Comes With Risks ».

As more chief executives weigh in with their thoughts on a host of social issues, a survey of U.S. adults finds while there is some benefit to a company whose top executive takes a stand, support grows when the issue being discussed has a bearing on the company’s business.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

May expressed discontent with the current model of corporate governance used by FTSE companies and in particular the effectiveness of supposedly independent non-executive directors. ‘In practice, they are often drawn from the same narrow social and professional circles as the executive team and the scrutiny they provide is often limited,’ she said. So, she suggests, workers and even consumers should be given a seat at the table.

May wrote she wants to tackle the ‘unhealthy and growing gap between what these companies pay their workers and what they pay their bosses.’ Specifically she wants to make shareholder votes on corporate pay packages binding instead of advisory and ‘simplify the way bonuses are paid so that the bosses’ incentives are better aligned with the long-term interests of the company.’

Impertinent ? L’article de Kim Elsesser publié sur Forbes et intitulé « The Truth About Women’s Impact On Corporate Boards (It’s Not Good News) » présente une étude (plutôt critique !) sur la féminisation des CA.

Greater profits, greater CEO pay and enhanced problem-solving are just a few of the claimed advantages of increasing the number of women on a company’s board of directors. Could it really be true that merely adding a few women to the board could bring such powerful change? Alice Eagly, professor of psychology and management at Northwestern, and one of the most renowned researchers on female leaders, delved into the academic research on the topic She summarized what social scientists had learned about women’s impact on corporate boards. Let’s just say, it doesn’t look good.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian