Styrelseledamöters mandat - ansats till en teori om styrelsearbete i börsnoterade företag
(1999)- Abstract
- The ownership structure of public-listed companies in Sweden has undergone large changes during the last 20 years. Since the 1970's, the interest in the stock market has grown substantially, and in addition to more active domestic actors, the national borders have been opened to foreign capital. The change towards a more active stock market in Sweden has increased the interest for issues concerning corporate governance and control of the large companies, with the role and responsibility of the owners being an issue of focal interest. A more “active ownership” has been expressed, and there are several possible ways that are open for owners who wish to get involved in corporate governance. Besides direct contacts with the firm’s top... (More)
- The ownership structure of public-listed companies in Sweden has undergone large changes during the last 20 years. Since the 1970's, the interest in the stock market has grown substantially, and in addition to more active domestic actors, the national borders have been opened to foreign capital. The change towards a more active stock market in Sweden has increased the interest for issues concerning corporate governance and control of the large companies, with the role and responsibility of the owners being an issue of focal interest. A more “active ownership” has been expressed, and there are several possible ways that are open for owners who wish to get involved in corporate governance. Besides direct contacts with the firm’s top management team and voicing out opinions during the annual meetings, the board of directors is one possible venue for involvement. A question that has yet to be extensively addressed is: under what conditions and how do the owners consider the board of directors of a company as a means for implementing their intentions? This issue appears to be critical if one views the board of directors as a vehicle for owner involvement. The other side of the coin is how the directors of the board perceive their mandates. Even though the company law provides a framework for the functions of the board, individual directors may have different views regarding who the most important stakeholders are and how the different interest groups of the firm are supposed to be balanced. The perceived mandate will thereby influence the owners’ approach in governing the company through the board of directors. An important assumption in this study is that the directors develop interpretations or perceptions of both the owners’ intentions with the firm and their own roles, duties, and responsibilities as directors. I define this perception as the perceived mandate of the director. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the directors of corporate boards perceive, define, and relate their mandates, roles, and responsibilities with respect to shareholders, management, other stakeholders, and the directors within the same board. On this basis, I formulate theoretical and empirical constructs regarding the work of the board. In particular, the study focuses on the board members’ perception of the owners' intentions. A conceptual model of factors that form directors’ mandate is proposed and developed. The factors are: type of director, directors’ competencies, forms for organizing work in the board, perceived owner intention, relationship with the management, perceived responsibility, and views of stakeholders. The empirical investigation was carried out through case studies involving two companies, Höganäs AB and Perstorp AB. To study the owners’ intentions from their perspective, I studied public documents, such as annual reports, from the ten largest shareholders in the companies. In order to evaluate the perceptions about the specific relations within the board of directors, and between the directors and the context, interviews with the directors have been extensively carried out. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Sedan 1970-talet har intresset för den svenska aktiemarknaden ökat. Utländska och svenska institutionella investerare är exempel på aktörer som spelar en alltmer betydelsefull roll på aktiemarknaden. Generellt sett har en tidigare relativt trögrörlig aktiemarknad ersatts av en livlig marknad för ägande i svenska börsföretag. Förändringarna har betydelse för hur aktieägarna utövar styrning och kontroll av företaget. Styrelsen intar här en central roll. Styrelsen fattar beslut och kontrollerar företagsledningen kollektivt. Emellertid är styrelsen sammansatt av ledamöter med specifika kompetenser och relationer till företagets aktieägare. Det medför att styrelseledamöterna inom styrelsens ram har... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Sedan 1970-talet har intresset för den svenska aktiemarknaden ökat. Utländska och svenska institutionella investerare är exempel på aktörer som spelar en alltmer betydelsefull roll på aktiemarknaden. Generellt sett har en tidigare relativt trögrörlig aktiemarknad ersatts av en livlig marknad för ägande i svenska börsföretag. Förändringarna har betydelse för hur aktieägarna utövar styrning och kontroll av företaget. Styrelsen intar här en central roll. Styrelsen fattar beslut och kontrollerar företagsledningen kollektivt. Emellertid är styrelsen sammansatt av ledamöter med specifika kompetenser och relationer till företagets aktieägare. Det medför att styrelseledamöterna inom styrelsens ram har individuella föreställningar som styr hur de agerar. Avhandlingen bygger på två fallstudier av styrelser i börsnoterade företag med koncentrerat ägande. Avhandlingen beskriver hur styrelseledamöters uppfattningar om sina mandat formas och hur mandatuppfattningarna påverkar styrelsearbetet. Särskilt fokuseras betydelsen av ägares intentioner och representation av olika ägare i styrelser. Direkt ägarrepresentation i styrelser är vanligt förekommande i svenska börsföretag, men hur direkt ägarrepresentation påverkar styrelsearbetet har i princip bortsetts från i tidigare internationell forskning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/27706
- author
- Kärreman, Matts LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Hägg, Ingemund, Företagsekonomiska institutionen vid Uppsala universitet
- organization
- alternative title
- The director's mandate - a theory on the work of the board in public-listed companies
- publishing date
- 1999
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- responsibility, ownership structure, representation, roles, public limited companies, ownership, mandate, Board of directors, corporate governance, Cultural anthropology, ethnology, Kulturantropologi, etnologi
- pages
- 328 pages
- publisher
- Department of Business Administration, Lund University
- defense location
- Ekonomicentrum 3:207
- defense date
- 1999-12-15 10:15:00
- external identifiers
-
- other:ISRN: LUSADG/SAEK-99/1058-SE
- ISBN
- 91-973738-1-8
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 28c2d6c9-a483-4269-8756-e73ec2deb1f1 (old id 27706)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 11:58:45
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:08:19
@phdthesis{28c2d6c9-a483-4269-8756-e73ec2deb1f1,
abstract = {{The ownership structure of public-listed companies in Sweden has undergone large changes during the last 20 years. Since the 1970's, the interest in the stock market has grown substantially, and in addition to more active domestic actors, the national borders have been opened to foreign capital. The change towards a more active stock market in Sweden has increased the interest for issues concerning corporate governance and control of the large companies, with the role and responsibility of the owners being an issue of focal interest. A more “active ownership” has been expressed, and there are several possible ways that are open for owners who wish to get involved in corporate governance. Besides direct contacts with the firm’s top management team and voicing out opinions during the annual meetings, the board of directors is one possible venue for involvement. A question that has yet to be extensively addressed is: under what conditions and how do the owners consider the board of directors of a company as a means for implementing their intentions? This issue appears to be critical if one views the board of directors as a vehicle for owner involvement. The other side of the coin is how the directors of the board perceive their mandates. Even though the company law provides a framework for the functions of the board, individual directors may have different views regarding who the most important stakeholders are and how the different interest groups of the firm are supposed to be balanced. The perceived mandate will thereby influence the owners’ approach in governing the company through the board of directors. An important assumption in this study is that the directors develop interpretations or perceptions of both the owners’ intentions with the firm and their own roles, duties, and responsibilities as directors. I define this perception as the perceived mandate of the director. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the directors of corporate boards perceive, define, and relate their mandates, roles, and responsibilities with respect to shareholders, management, other stakeholders, and the directors within the same board. On this basis, I formulate theoretical and empirical constructs regarding the work of the board. In particular, the study focuses on the board members’ perception of the owners' intentions. A conceptual model of factors that form directors’ mandate is proposed and developed. The factors are: type of director, directors’ competencies, forms for organizing work in the board, perceived owner intention, relationship with the management, perceived responsibility, and views of stakeholders. The empirical investigation was carried out through case studies involving two companies, Höganäs AB and Perstorp AB. To study the owners’ intentions from their perspective, I studied public documents, such as annual reports, from the ten largest shareholders in the companies. In order to evaluate the perceptions about the specific relations within the board of directors, and between the directors and the context, interviews with the directors have been extensively carried out.}},
author = {{Kärreman, Matts}},
isbn = {{91-973738-1-8}},
keywords = {{responsibility; ownership structure; representation; roles; public limited companies; ownership; mandate; Board of directors; corporate governance; Cultural anthropology; ethnology; Kulturantropologi; etnologi}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Department of Business Administration, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Styrelseledamöters mandat - ansats till en teori om styrelsearbete i börsnoterade företag}},
year = {{1999}},
}