The Short View
Photo: SIR Publications
Peek inside the executive boards of 36 Nordic companies
Nordic Corporate Governance is the title of a new book that looks over the shoulders of 250 owners, board members, chairs and CEOs of 36 large and medium-sized Nordic companies in a survey of how corporate governance is practiced in Scandinavia. The study represents one of the largest qualitative studies completed on governance.
The study shows, for example, that companies benefit from Nordic legislation, which leaves quite ample room for interpretation. Companies take advantage of this to tailor their governance structure to best suit their company.
Flemming Poulfelt, professor at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, is one of the book’s co-authors.
“The study provides fascinating insights into how governance is exercised in the companies concerned and the challenges that exist. The book can be used as an inspiration to see how owners, board members and managers can jointly develop governance in the businesses they represent.”
The book’s other co-authors are: Sven-Erik Sjöstrand, Tom Berglund, Lars Grönberg, Markus Kallifatides, Flemming Poulfelt, Salla Pöyry and Olaf Sigurjonsson.
Read more about Nordic Corporate Governance: An Extensive In-Depth Study of Corporate Governance and Board Practices in 36 Large Companies. The book is a translation of Nordisk bolagsstyrning: En närstudie av ägarstyrning och styrelseprocesser i 36 storföretag, which was published in 2016.
For more information, contact Flemming Poulfelt
Photo: Akademisk Forlag
Youthful mistakes with long-term financial consequences
New book guides young people and other interested parties to get a handle on everything from inheritance, housing, investments and retirement.
Personal finances can seem overwhelming. In a new book, “The Little Book about Your Personal Finances”, CBS Professors Michael Møller and Niels Christian Nielsen briefly and to the point entertainingly answer question such as: Should I take out a loan? Buy property? Rent a place to live? Spend my money or save? Should I trust my bank? And, am I a sensible housewife or a smug amateur?
“We wrote this book because we believe that it contains some important messages. For example, many young people make a blunder when they borrow money that has long-term consequences,” explains Møller.
“We wrote the book the way we did, short and direct, because we want it to appeal to the widest possible audience. Disseminating research can easily become so cumbersome that the target audience is relatively narrow. Finances aren’t necessarily of great interest to everyone,” he adds.
Read more about the “The Little Book about Your Personal Finances” on the publisher’s website.
The newspaper Børsen also has a review of the book.
For more information, contact Michael Møller or Niels Christian Nielsen.
Photo: Shutterstock
A link between executive pay and the willingness to take risks
How were corporate governance characteristics and the willingness in Danish banks to take risks connected in the years prior to the financial crisis? Professor Caspar Rose from the Department of International Economics and Management at CBS addressed this question.
His findings indicate that there is a correlation between a bank’s corporate governance characteristics and its willingness to take risks.
“The higher the total payroll to management, the more risks the bank is willing to take. My study also shows that a greater number of directors reduces that same willingness to take risks – perhaps because the individual managers are better at keeping one another in check. If, on the other hand, there’s a smaller number of managers and a strong CEO, the bank’s willingness to take risks grows,” explains Rose.
The analysis is based on a four-point analytical tool called the diamond developed by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority to assess a bank’s willingness to take risks. The assessment rests on five factors: loan growth, funding ratios, property exposure, liquidity surplus and high levels of exposure.
Read more about the study in the article: “The Relationship Between Corporate Governance Characteristics and Credit Exposure in Banks: Implications for Financial Regulation”.
For more information, contact Caspar Rose.
Photo: Shutterstock
Companies, come closer to CBS researcher
CBS Roundtable is the name of several new initiatives designed to bring CBS and business and industry closer together. The initiative provides a safe environment where companies have the opportunity to present researchers with the challenges they face – and that CBS research can help solve.
The fact is that there is a need for closer collaboration between the business community and CBS and for initiatives like CBS Roundtable, according to Louise Seest, director of CBS Business, in the feature article “Dear Companies, come closer to CBS”, which appeared in Børsen on 20 March 2017.
“Many companies are currently experiencing a strong need to access and even help produce the knowledge that the Danish economy will live off of in the future, and this is where close collaboration with CBS researchers plays a large role,” writes Seest in the article.
Read more in the feature article “Dear Companies, come closer to CBS” (only in Danish).
For more information, contact Louise Seest.
Photo: bos-cbscsr.dk/
New book explores the current state of CSR
The new book on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the first of its kind to balance critiques of CSR with a discussion of the opportunities it creates. The book offers an original and up-to-date introduction to issues in CSR from a global perspective, and it guides students through key themes in CSR including strategy, communication, regulation, and governance.
Andreas Rasche, Mette Morsing and Jeremy Moon, all CSR professors at the Department of Management, Society and Communication at CBS, have edited the book:
“We cannot ignore the big societal challenges that are ahead of us, and by educating the business wo(men) of tomorrow we have to acknowledge that firms’ responsibilities have to be deliberately managed, regardless of whether we call this “CSR”, “corporate sustainability”, “shared value” or something else. We hope that our book will convey exactly this message”.
The book chapters are written by an international team of experts. It includes chapters devoted to critical issues such as human rights, anti-corruption, labour rights, and the environment.
Find out more about the book Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication, Governance.
The editors have published this blogpost about the book.
For more information contact Andreas Rasche or Louise Thomsen.
Photo: Carlsberg
History moves Carlsberg forward
Professor Majken Schultz's research on Carlsberg’s use of its own history as the foundation for a new wave of special brew in Denmark and subsequently a new identity was recently published in probably one of the most prestigious and iconic journal in the field of organisation and management – the Administrative Science Quarterly.
Her research is focused on the processes a company goes through when it comes across and is inspired by its history. To be exact, Carlsberg’s revitalisation of its founder Carl Jacobsen’s favourite motto: Semper Ardens (keep the fire burning), which the global brewery launched anew as the name of a special brew in the 1990s. The motto was rediscovered a decade later in 2009 when Carlsberg revised its identity after making major acquisitions.
"Carlsberg has demonstrated the power of history to drive innovation and commitment. This case is of special interest due to its focus on the authentic use of history as opposed to sheer manipulation in branding and identity formation,” Majken Schultz explains and continues:
"In a time when a lot of CEOs perceive history as an irrelevant resource unable to be changed, the study suggests that history can be an active resource and provide inspiration for innovative development and thought. The decisive factor is whether the involved partners perceive the chosen story as authentic," says Schultz.
For more information, contact Majken Schultz.