Transparency and Information Disclosure in Corporate Governance

Since January 2008 LegalEdhec is collaborating with two research centres at the University of Lille II (LERADP and EQUIPPE) on a multidisciplinary research project that deals with transparency and information disclosure related to corporate governance. The project has been selected by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche and received generous funding for three years.

Our research seeks to analyse positive and negative assumptions about transparency in corporate governance by studying the actual effects of transparency systems, including norms, structures, and beliefs, on the interests of different business actors and their respective behaviour. Our team unites competences in law, finance, economics, strategic management, and business ethics.  

Despite the combined explanatory and empirical character of our research, our final objective is not to construct theoretical models about transparency and claim to have verified them empirically. Instead, we seek to create a reasonable knowledge base, upon which we can articulate practical recommendations for business and concrete proposals for the adoption, modification or rejection of transparency legislation. Our research will concentrate on the French economy. However, since much law in this field is European, since companies, investors, financial intermediaries, and other market participants operate internationally, and taking into account the global character of the corporate governance movement, our study is based on a comparative approach. One of the main challenges of our research will be to test the common assumptions about transparency as expressed in predominantly Anglo-Saxon literature on the specific market conditions in France. Our findings could also become interesting for other European countries with company and capital market structures that bear more resemblance to those in France than in the UK/US.

The empirical treatment of research questions generated by an in depth multidisciplinary effort that goes beyond a law and economics perspective is to date still an exceptional experience. By focusing on transparency and information disclosure as a key element of corporate governance, our research could pave the way for future multidisciplinary research that critically appraises other corporate governance subjects. We seek to offer persuasive ideas and solutions that could influence the course of the mainstream corporate governance debate.

 LegalEdhec's research for this project is directed by Björn Fasterling. For more detailed information about the project's work and objectives, please contact bjorn.fasterling@edhec.edu.

 

Compliance, Risk, and Legal Management

We are currently negotiating partnership agreements with risk management and insurance companies that may lead to EDHEC Position Papers and academic articles. More information will be available shortly.

 

International Symposium

In the final quarter of 2008, the LegalEDHEC Research Centre will organise an international symposium. The tentative proceedings are:

Legal Performance and Competitive Advantages: theory

· Can companies truly create legal competency?

· Can this legal competency lead to competitive advantages?

· How to combine in-house resources, legal competency, and competitive advantage

Legal Performance: practice

- Tools and procedures for legal performance

- How to position the legal function in corporate decision-making

-  How to gauge legal performance

Strategies and Legal Performance: case studies

The objective here is to look at cases from specific companies

- International development: uncertainty of the environment and risks of partnerships

- Domination through technology: the efficiency of the modes of protection of innovation and market standardisation

- Domination through costs: law in the service of corporate communication

- Complex strategies: how to structure legal decision-making

Legal Performance: from the evaluation of legal risk to legal performance

- Evaluation of likely legal costs

- Legal strategies

- Rationalisation of judicial rulings

This symposium will bring together academics and professionals from France and abroad. The talks will be collected with a view to publication in both French and English. More information will be available shortly.