"This book is essential reading for those investigating the introduction and adoption of corporate governance codes in major Latin American corporations as well as for academics engaged in the study of management and business history."
—Dr. Martin Monsalve Zanatti,
"This is an insightful contribution to business and development scholarship."
—Professor José Carlos Orihuela
“This work is a must-read for understanding the transformative potential of governance in emerging markets.”
—Professor Alfredo Enrione.
“This is a great work on a topic that deserves further attention.”
—Professor Diego Sánchez-Ancochea
Corporate governance brings transparency to corporate decision-making, however more research is needed into the rationale for the diffusion of governance codes to developing countries. This book explores why listed corporations in Peru decided to comply with a voluntary code of corporate governance practice introduced in 2014 to over 200 corporations registered on the Lima stock exchange. It looks at why some listed corporations would incur the expense of actively complying with such a code when it is neither suited to their corporate ownership structures, nor to their equity markets. Combining empirical research with a sound theoretical base and interviews with those working in the field, the book comes to an objective conclusion that rejects the description that big businesses in Latin America are self-interested and frequently corrupt, and instead are concerned about sustainability and building legitimacy in their chosen domains.
John Lawrence is an independent director and completed his PhD in political economy at UCL, in which the focus was on understanding how companies registered with the Lima stock exchange make decisions on corporate governance matters in general and on their compliance with a voluntary code introduced in 2014. Before his career in academia, he had a successful career in management consulting, advising on strategy to the boards of more than 50 corporations in the financial services markets and ran his own firm for over 25 years.