About the Center for Governance and Management Studies

Capital market liberalisation and globalisation, together with the forces of demography and macroeconomic structures, have co-produced and reconfigured the settings for corporate governance and management in the era of financial(ized) capitalism. In most societies, a multitude of formal owners, members, citizens and/or other stakeholders seek to influence the governance and management of corporations and other kinds of organizations. For corporations, particularly the listed ones, many of these attempts take place in and around capital markets (the market for corporate control).

Corporate stakeholders (eg shareholders) face the dual challenge of acting in concert with regard to 'their' organizations and construct means of ensuring a measure of control over them. Research at the center highlights the structures and processes by which this dual challenge is handled. That means that the monitoring, formation and deformation of organizational long-term capabilities is investigated with an ambition to understand and explain the content and (re)production of the developing corporate paths. The accompanying emerging governance regimes – carried both by actors and institutions – are also studied. These regimes include 'internal' (e.g., annual general meetings, nomination committees, boards of directors, etc.) as well as “external” arenas and forces (e.g., capital market actors, hard and soft regulations, etc).

Our empirical studies focus on Swedish and Nordic societies, organizations and settings, however, almost always with a linkage to global arenas and contexts. The kind of research problem addressed decides the methodology used, although qualitative, participative or observational, and longitudinal approaches dominate.

In general, the center’s research efforts are characterized by an ambition to critically and constructively study, describe and analyse the emergence and development of corporate/organizational practices in society. The research is based on a theoretical platform that basically has its roots in a socio-economic tradition. Researchers at the center aim to uphold a recognized presence in the on-going academic discourses in crucial parts of the governance and management fields. We also strive to be involved in empirical studies that are of significant interest to the actors and corporations/organizations involved, as well as for society at large.