文档介绍：BUSINESS
ECONOMICS AND
MANAGERIAL
DECISION MAKING
Trefor Jones
Manchester School of Management
UMIST
4 PART I g CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
INTRODUCTION
Firms are major economic institutions in market economies. e in all shapes
and sizes, but have the mon characteristics:
g Owners.
g Managers.
g Objectives.
g Apoolofresources(labour,physicalcapital,¢nancialcapitalandlearnedskillsand
competences) to be allocated roles by managers.
g Administrative anizational structures through which production is
organized.
g Performance assessment by owners, managers and other stakeholders.
Whatever its size, a ¢rm is owned by someone or some group of individuals aniza-
tions.
These are termed shareholders and they are able to determine the objectives and
activities of the ¢rm. They also appoint the senior managers who will make day-to-day
decisions. The owners bear the risks associated with operating the ¢rm and have the
right to receive the residual e or pro¢ts. Where ownership rights are dispersed,
control of the ¢rm may not lie with the shareholders but with senior managers. This
divorce between ownership and control and its implication for the operation and
performance of the ¢rm is at the centre of many of the issues dealt with in this book.
OWNERSHIP STRUCTURES
The dominant model of the ¢rm in Western economies is the limited pany
owned by shareholders, but the form varies signi¢cantly between countries. In some
countries the control rights of the owners are limited by powers given to stakeholders
who may share in the appointment and supervision of managers and in the determina-
tion of the enterprise’s objectives. In Germany, for example, panies recognize
the role of workers and other groups by giving them half the positions on the
supervisory board that oversees the management board (Douma 1997). There are also
¢rms owned by members and operated as co-operative or mutual enterprises and some