Employee Participation, Corporate Governance and the Firm: A Transatlantic View Focused on Occupational Pensions and Co-Determination

Abstract

Corporate governance and the theory of the firm are discussed primarily from the shareholders' perspective. This point of view neglects the tremendous effects of private pensions and of co-determination as well as interdependencies between codetermination, pensions and corporate governance. Since in the private pension world the firm serves as an investment tool, the focus should be shifted from short-term interests to concepts maximising long-term shareholder value. In this context, also moderate forms of co-determination might serve as a tool for long-term oriented corporate governance. Given the rise of the European Company, co-determination is likely to spread in Europe. Both, private pension-based corporate governance systems and stakeholder-oriented corporate governance systems should be re-examined in the light of the financial and economic crisis and due to the rise of behavioural law and economics.