The Corporate Governance In Chartered Period In Chinese Modern Times

The corporate is one of the most important enterprise patterns in contemporary times. Thecorporate institution is popular among government, academic circles and industrial circles in theworld. The hot of corporate research and practice promotes each other. The corporate has becomethe most vital enterprise model and has great effect on society and economy. The new corporatetheory needs further research with the corporate institution developing. The corporate governancetheory is the latest theory among the corporate theories.The corporate governance appeared with the birth of corporate, in logical, but academiccircles hasn't pay attention to this problem until recently. The concept was born in 1975 if we takethe Williamson's governance structure as the first concept. The hot of the research broke out in the1990s'. The government, academic circles and industrial circles, even international organizationfocus on the corporate governance now.It is well known that corporate institution had been forbidden due to institutional cause. Thecorporate appeared again in the middle 1990s' after the state made the aim to set up socialistmarket system. Considered the above, it was easy to understand that the theory research began toconduct after 1992. The corporate governance theory is still backward in China, thoughgovernment, academic circles and industrial circles have made great efforts.The academic circles have done a little original reseach but to introduce and apply westerntheory. But the corporate governance theory just begins to practise. The theory conducts poorly inpractice. Considered this, the academic circles must havily focus on how to localize the westerncorporate theory, especially corporate governance theory in future.The localization of corporate governance must be influenced by the local concept of culture,value and the stage of the society and economy development. The concept of culture and value isconsciousness appearance that is comparably stable. It means that the conception of culture andvalue has much same between modern times and contemporary times in China. The country is intransformation period similar with the corporate chartered period in modern times.The corporate governance is so complicated that neither academic circles nor industrialcircles give a popular concept. The dissertation defines the corporate governance in charteredperiod at first. The dissertation thinks that the corporate governance must solve the potentialinterest conflicts arising among the shareholders, boards, managers and government.The dissertation explains the aim, background and means of the research at first. It isnecessary that introduce the latest progress about the corporate in Chinese modern times. Thesystemic research on the corporate governance in modern times has hardly conducted. Thedissertation study is worthwhile considering the research status.Then the dissertation analyses the trace of the corporate in chartered period at chapter three.It is evident that the background and character, even the trend must be focused on before arguingcorporate governance in chartered period.The dissertation draws the primary conclusion as follows on the corporategovernance from chapter four to chapter six.The dissertation defines the major corporate governance mechanism as Mandaringovernance mechanism because the primary enterprise pattern was Mandarinenterprise. The Mandarin governance mechanism differs in the function ofgovernance from the common corporate governance. The government was the mostimportant stakeholder. The dissertation argues that the Mandarin governancemechanism is based on the transformation of traditional relationship betweengovernment and enterprise.The Mandarin governance mechanism has some difference from the commoncorporate governance in contemporary. One is that the shareholders' committee neverfunctioned. The other is that boards, managers and big shareholders often belonged tothe same part. Then the shareholders were affiliated to the corporate governance. Themanagers led by the general manager that controlled the whole company.Though the rule and regulation inside corporate reads that the shareholders'committee had some operating rights, the shareholders' committee can never practice.But there had still comparably efficient agent-principal mechanism between someshareholders and some managers.The managers who were boards always controlled the company. The managershad the nature of official and comprador, which is different at one stage from another.That is to say, the earlier the managers had the more nature of comprador, the later themanagers had the more nature of official. The managers usually controlled the wholecorporate due to the non-efficient constrain mechanism from shareholders andgovernment. As a result, the nature of the managers determined the destination of thecompany. Of course, many managers corrupted.The corporate relied on the chartered rights. This determined that the governmenthad the final controlling rights. Between the government and the corporate hadagent-principal relationship in Mandarin governance mechanism. In fact, internalgovernment had also agent-principal relationship. The officer was the tie between thecorporate and government. The officer directly appointed the major managers,informed the government economy and political require, even decided someimportant company affairs. The nature of the officer also determined the Mandaringovernance mechanism sometimes.It can't deny that the government took some responsibility. Such as the charteredrights, capital support, patent rights like contemporary monopoly operating rights,political protection, and supervising manager. This was the key why Mandaringovernance mechanism sets up.Chapter four conducts theoretical analysis as the above. Chapter five takes theChinese Steam-Navigation Company as an example to introduce the corporategovernance mechanism in practice. The conclusion was that the renewed relationshipbetween government and corporate was the base of the corporate governance. TheChinese Steam-Navigation Company was the characteristic of the modern westerncompany considering the internal regulation. In general, the governance mechanismwas primarily same as the conclusion of the chapter four. But the governancemechanism was imperfect even by comparison with the New Lairin NewspaperCompany in German in 1848. The rights and responsibility among the corporategovernance masters were not clear. Even that, the regulated governance mechanismhardly turned into effect. The governance mechanism is much same as that of chapterfour.In general, the early corporate governance mechanism was the result ofinstitution introduce and innovation. It helped modern company come in at thebackground of lack the general terms in China. It also benefited to protect nationalprofit. But the Mandarin corporate governance mechanism had fatal defect that wasunstable. Besides this, the property is not clear. Considered the above, the Mandaringovernance mechanism had just a transformation form.The Mandarin governance mechanism can't function due to the situation changeafter the War between China and Japan, though some Mandarin still existed. Thetragedy of Kaiping Mine and the foundation of Dasheng Cotton Yarn Factory showedthe tendency of the corporate governance mechanism. But it was impossible that theMandarin governance mechanism disappeared before the general corporate law hadbeen drawn up. The Corporate Law was made in the early 1900s'. It also meant thatthe chartered period ended but the legal period came. That is to say, the corporategovernance had the general regulation. The Corporate Law did not save thetransaction cost but it was convenient to governance to withdraw from the company.At last, the dissertation gives the summary of the corporate governancemechanism in the chartered period in modern times. The dissertation also argues theenlightenment to the contemporary corporate governance.The dissertation carried out some original research. The dissertation researchessystemically the corporate governance in Chinese modern times. The dissertationresearches the relationship and their internal characters of the shareholders, boards,managers and government. Considered the angle, the dissertation set up a clue ofrelationship government and firm. At last, the dissertation analyses the investor tookpart in corporate operation, though the Mandarin was one of old question in academiccircles.