Corporate Governance

2025/2026

Type: Mago-Lego

Delivered by: School of Finance

Where: Faculty of Economic Sciences

When: 3 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Konstantin Popov

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 32

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Abstract

The course on corporate governance provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts and practices in the field. Students will delve into the fundamentals, beginning with an introduction to governance and the agency problem. More recent theories, such as stakeholder theory, upper echelons theory, stewardship theory, and resource-based view will be considered. A brief overview of the historical development of corporate governance crises, tracing them from the Great Depression to the challenges faced in the 2020s, will be given. Students of the course will learn about the roles of governing bodies, including the Board of Directors (supervisory Board), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and top management team (executive Board), in corporate performance, sustainability, and transparency. A special attention will be paid to the modern requirements for effective governance, including the role of the supervisory Board in corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) transformation. The course concludes with an analysis of corporate governance through the lens of corporate financial performance, ESG transformation and transparency. Each lecture contains a theoretical description and an overview of results of recent empirical papers considering the impact of different corporate governance characteristics on corporate performance, ESG transformation and transparency. Seminar classes will be devoted to the analysis of practical cases together with the students, focusing on relevant corporate governance issues for BRICS countries. By the end of this course, the students will have a solid understanding of corporate governance principles and applied knowledge allowing them to conduct a comprehensive analysis of corporate governance in emerging markets. Additionally, the students will gain a comprehensive view of current trends in academic literature devoted to corporate governance, including relevant research questions and techniques. The level of the course suggests that the student has the basic knowledge of economics (microeconomics, macroeconomics), enterprise (management / corporate law or alike), corporate finance and statistics before joining the course. Absence of this knowledge is not a limiting point, but will increase the number of hours for learning the course.

Learning Objectives

Forming a comprehensive understanding of corporate governance in defferent contexts and time-frames with particular description of the components of corporate governance structure
Forming student's ability to critically evaluate the quality of corporate governance in companies and prospects for further improvements
Forming student’s ability to conduct analytical and academic studies devoted to the effects of corporate governance quality on corporate financial performance, ESG transformation and transparency

Expected Learning Outcomes

The student is able to identify key elements of corporate governance structure, describe characteristics of governing bodies (Board of directors, CEO, executive Board), distinguish between the contexts of private and public companies, recognizing differences in corporate governance across different countries and identifying best practices
The student is capable of describing the changes in corporate governance principles and characteristics in recent decades
The student is able to identify country-specific features of corporate governance in different markets
The student is able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of corporate governance quality using international standards and recent findings of academic and analytical papers, and predict the impact of corporate governance characteristics on corporate financial performance
The student is able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of corporate governance quality using international standards and recent findings of academic and analytical papers, and predict the impact of corporate governance characteristics on corporate ESG transformation
The student is able to assess the presence of sustainable corporate governance elements
The student is capable of conducting an academic research devoted to the impact of corporate governance characteristics on corporate financial performance and ESG transformation, formulating hypotheses, choosing an appropriate methodology and interpreting empirical findings

Course Contents

Theoretical Framework of Corporate Governance
Corporate Governance Standards and Practices
Corporate Governance Effects on Corporate Financial Performance
Corporate Governance Effects on Corporate ESG Transformation and Transparency
Corporate Governance in the Context of Modern Challenges

Assessment Elements

Corporate governance overview: a case study
Review of knowledge gained in Sections 1 and 2.
Corporate governance research overview
Exam task: Research project
Exam project performed in groups of 3 or 4 students who should offer the research design, collect necessary data and get preliminary results.
In-class activity
In-class activity (participation in discussions)

Interim Assessment

2025/2026 3rd module
0.2 * Corporate governance overview: a case study + 0.2 * Corporate governance research overview + 0.4 * Exam task: Research project + 0.2 * In-class activity

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Andrea CardoniEvgeniia Kiseleva (2023) Sustainable Governance : Concept, Metrics and Contexts 9783031374913,9783031374920
International Corporate Governance John, Kose; Makhija, Anil K.;and more Emerald Publishing Limited 2015 ISBN: ISBN number:9781785603556, ISBN number:9781785603549 SERIES: Advances in Financial Economics Ser.
Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1997). A Survey of Corporate Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1997.tb04820.x
Sustainable governance : concept, metrics and contexts, Cardoni, A., 2023

Authors

POPOV KONSTANTIN ALEKSANDROVICH

Course Syllabus