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2023/2024  BA-BHAAV6093U  Corporate Governance (offered in English)

English Title
Corporate Governance (offered in English)

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Niels Westergård-Nielsen - Department of Accounting (AA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Corporate governance
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 08-02-2023

Relevant links

Learning objectives
After this course the student will:
  • Understand what it means to own a business and be able to identify and explain the different ownership types.
  • Explain what ownership means for leaders and managers of companies.
  • Understand the roles of the Board and the Management team, discuss their internal roles and reflect on the different incentives each agent may have.
  • Be able to apply theoretical and empirical knowledge to design corporate governance systems
Prerequisites for registering for the exam (activities during the teaching period)
Number of compulsory activities which must be approved (see section 13 of the Programme Regulations): 1
Oral presentations etc.
Participation in group work on case and subsequent presentations of the progression of the case.
Examination
Corporate Governance:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Duration 20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Preparation time No preparation
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Course context

In modern society, companies and their value creation play role in societal prosperity. Companies have a big responsibility today to manage great values and derive from it a great responsibility to organize the activities of many people. Thus, it is highly relevant to be interested in corporate governance.  This course is an introduction to corporate governance, and on how governance mechanisms work in praxis in companies with different ownership structures. There is great variation in business owners´ preferences, depending on forms of ownership and other institutional conditions, which has important consequences for how companies are organized and managed. There are many stakeholders in a company (owners, employees, customers etc.) and one of the central element in corporate governance is the evaluation of and balancing the different interests. In this course there will be a strong focus on the role of ownership and the implications for businesses from various governance structures will be examined, along with the different relationships between owners and leaders and management and employees. With this, the course aims to prepare the student to be engaged and reflective while using corporate governance to understand and analyse a case, based on solid practical and scientific foundation.

Hands on

In the course we will work with an ongoing case, where students will gradually build their own business with a board, management, and employees, so if and when they decide to start their own business one day or consult others, they have considered the whole process , from ownership structure to employees. Furthermore, students have got a hands on understanding for the problems coporate governance tries to solve. The course take departure in a book and will be taught by researchers, who can contribute with their own research in Corporate Governance. Therefore, the topics of the book will have varying weight depending on the research that takes place at the Center for Corporate Governance.

 

 

Structure

The teaching will be based on lectures and cases. The lectures will take departure in the book: Thomsen, S., & Conyon, M. (2019). Corporate Governance and Board Decisions. København: Djøf Forlag.

 

The course includes the following themes:

  • Theme 1: Introduction
  • Theme 2: Corporate Governance theories
  • Theme 3: Mechanisms of Corporate Governance
  • Theme 4: International Corporate Governance
  • Theme 5: Corporate Governance and regulations
  • Theme 6: Corporate Governance and compliance
  • Theme 7: Performance
  • Theme 8: Responsible Corporate Governance
  • Theme 9: Ownership
  • Theme 10: Board theories
  • Theme 11: Board conduct
  • Theme 12: Management remuneration
  • Theme 13: The board and strategy
  • Theme 14: The board and succession
  • Theme 15: Board supervision and guidance
  • Theme 16: IT leadership
  • Theme 17: Review of the course´s themes

 

Description of the teaching methods
There will be double lectures, with group work on specific topics. Furthermore, there will be an ongoing case with reports to all participants at regular intervals.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback during the teaching will be possible. The feedback will be based on dialogue and discussion.
Student workload
Preparation 170 hours
Teaching 38 hours
Expected literature

The literature list is devided into two parts: the main course book and selective research articles and book chapters. .
 

Course book: Thomsen, S., & Conyon, M. (2019). Corporate Governance and Board Decisions. København: Djøf Forlag.
 

Selective chapters in Westergård-Nielsen, N (2020). Danish Boards and their members. Forlaget Handelsvidenskab/​​Samfunds litteratur.


Research articles: TBA

Last updated on 08-02-2023