GOVERNANCE

• The Combined Code on Corporate Governance. July 2003. The efforts of many, many committees of the great and good - Cadbury, Hampel, Greenbury, Turnbull, Smith, Higgs - all rolled up into a Code of guidance for directors. A must read for those who wonder what all the fuss is about. (Clue, it is estimated that over 85% of value destruction is a result of bad strategy and execution, not bad governance. Still, it kept the creators off the streets.)
• The role of the board in creating a high performance organisation. John Roberts, Don Young. PARC 2005. Researched critique of the impacts of corporate governance pressures on boards. Also reviews Agency Theory and other theories of directors responsibilities.
• M. Blair. Ownership and Control: Rethinking corporate governance for the 21st century. Brookings Institute, Washington DC. 1995.
• It's time to take your Sox off. Booz, Allen Hamilton, 2005. Results of research by the above company, indicating that vastly more value is destroyed by management stupidity and error than by bad governance. Aimed at the Sarbanes Oxley legislation in the US, but even more pertinent to the UK, which has been less prone to corruption, but more to incompetence.