A Study of Institutional Change: Corporate Governance Reform in Britain

Abstract

This article analyzes corporate governance reform in Britain from the viewpoint of historical institutionalism. There have been three stages of reforms since the early-1970s: pure self-regulation, semi-statutory self-regulation and statutory regualtion. Despite these changes, however, there appeared institutional persistence, the maintenance of the Anglo-Saxon Corporate Governance Model. Although there had been several movements that had intended to introduce the Germany-originated Rhine Model to Britain, they all failed. This phenomenon resulted from three institutional structures: the Outside Initiative Policy Agenda-Setting Model, finance-dominating finance-industry relationship and the relatively strong and autonomous status of the British economy within the world economy.