Revising the theory behind corporate governance and management control: A reflection and roadmap

Abstract

I reflect on attempts to revise the theory behind corporate governance and management control in light of evolving organizational and market realities. First, I discuss the resistance to early attempts by prominent neoclassical economists to revise the theory of the firm. Second, I discuss the outcome of that resistance—an economic theory that is largely unable to describe common governance systems and management controls found in practice as well as new systems and controls aimed at increasing the environmental and social responsibility of the firm. Finally, I describe recent efforts to revise the theory by relaxing the assumption of narrow self-interest, incorporating insights from stakeholder theory, and incorporating important individual and social factors left out of the theory. I conclude by discussing how these revisions provide a roadmap to further revisions in the theory to improve its usefulness to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.