Corporate Governance Since the Managerial Capitalism Era

Today’s public company executives face a considerably different set of opportunities and constraints than their counterparts from the managerial capitalism era, which reached its apex in the 1950s and 1960s. The growing prominence of corporate governance played a significant role in this process. This paper explores these developments, taking into account in so doing prominent corporate scandals occurring in the first half of the 1970s and early 2000s, the 1980s “Deal Decade”, the “imperial” chief executive phenomenon and changes to the roles played by directors and shareholders of public companies.