BA Modern Language and Business & Management (Japanese) / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Corporate Governance in Context

Course unit fact file
Unit code BMAN30211
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Corporate governance is concerned with the ownership, control and accountability of corporations. It has become such an important current issue because there is increasing concern about such questions as: in whose interests are companies run; what mechanisms are in place to ensure that shareholder interests are safeguarded; what is the appropriate basis for setting executive pay and are executives too often rewarded for failure; and why, despite the formalisation of many procedures and practices for good governance, do things still go wrong leading to corporate collapse in some cases and failure of confidence in corporate governance more generally?

The course unit starts with an introduction to corporate governance, outlining the legal and institutional context in which firms are governed and the development of international corporate governance codes. A number of specific governance issues are then examined, such as governance structures, the role of institutional investors, executive remuneration and  corporate social responsibility. The course takes a very broad approach to the issue of governance and makes considerable reference to real cases to illustrate governance problems.

 

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Financial Reporting and Accountability BMAN21020A Pre-Requisite Compulsory
BMAN 30211 has pre-requisites of: BMAN21020.

Pre-requisite course units have to be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt unless a higher percentage is indicated within this course outline. If the pre-requisite unit is defined as a compulsory course unit within your programme of study (Maths with Finance, IBFE, Accounting, BA Econ pathways for example) then progression onto the dependent unit is permitted as long as you have gained the appropriate amount of credit to progress on to the following year of your registered undergraduate programme.

 

Aims

- to study corporate governance in its economic, political and legal context, including recent governance scandals;

- to analyse different intellectual positions about the ownership and control of corporations;

- to consider comparative international models of corporate governance;

- to introduce policy positions and debates about better governance.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course successful students will be able to:

- set the problematisation of governance in legal, political and institutional context

- understand policy developments, international convergences and differences in governance

- distinguish different perspectives on corporate governance and understand their assumptions about key actors, motives and mechanisms

- comment on current policy issues, discuss the limits of governance and consider how governance issues are broadening out into a wider social arena 

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures: 20 hours - 2 hrs per week for 10 weeks.

Total study hours: 100 hours split between lectures/classes, seminars, reading, self-study and preparation for classes and examinations.

Informal Contact Methods
1. Office Hours
2. Online Learning Activities (blogs, discussions questions)
 

Assessment methods

Examination (100%)

 

Feedback methods

- Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.

- Responses to student emails and questions from a member of staff including feedback provided to a group via an online discussion forum.

- Specific course related feedback sessions.

- Written and/or verbal comments on assessed or non-assessed coursework.

- Generic feedback posted on Blackboard regarding overall examination performance.

Recommended reading

Tricker, R (2019) Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies and Practices, 4th edition, Oxford University Press.

Mallin, C. (2018) Corporate Governance, 6th edition, OUP

Thomsen, S., & Conyon, M. (2012). Corporate governance: Mechanisms and systems. McGraw Hill.

Solomon, J. (2013). Corporate Governance and Accountability, 4th edition, Wiley.


*Students should not buy any textbooks until the title is confirmed in the first lecture*

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam 2
Lectures 20
Independent study hours
Independent study 78

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Anne Stafford Unit coordinator
Sofia Yasmin Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Length of course: 12 weeks

Pre-requisite course units have to be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt unless a higher percentage is indicated within this course outline. If the pre-requisite unit is defined as a compulsory course unit within your programme of study (Maths with Finance, IBFE, Accounting, BA Econ pathways for example) then progression onto the dependent unit is permitted as long as you have gained the appropriate amount of credit to progress on to the following year of your registered undergraduate programme.

Pre-requisites: BMAN21020 Financial Reporting & Accountability
Co-requisites: None
Dependent course units: None

Programme Restrictions: Available to all other students providing the pre-requisites listed above are met.

BMAN30211 is available study abroad and exchange students admitted through the University of Manchester International Programmes Office.

For Academic Year 2023/24

Updated: March 2023

Approved by: March UG Committee
 

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