North South University
LAW 200
Assignment # 2
Prepared for:
Barrister A.M. Masum Faculty of Business
North South University
Prepared by:
ID NAME 062 528 030 M.Montasir Imran Khan
Section: 02
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“A proper balance of the rights of majority and minority shareholders is essential for the smooth functioning of the company.”- Explain & Illustrate? 1. Introduction:
The basic principal relating to the administration of the affairs of a company is that “the will of the majority is supreme”. The general rule is that the decisions of the majority shareholders in a company bind the minority. 1 In a world that recognizes ‘simple majority rules’, minority shareholders of companies are by default vulnerable to oppression,
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The majority shareholder is often the Based on a study commissioned in April 2004 by Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pte Ltd, there were a total of 19 cases
founder of the corporation.
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of minority shareholder claims (personal and derivative) for oppression under Section 216 of the Companies Act.
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Shareholders holding minority interests in closely-held corporations are at risk of unfair or oppressive treatment8 by the majority or controlling shareholders, to an extent well beyond that of their counterparts in partnerships or in corporations whose shares are publicly traded.
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Sometimes directors and officers of closely held corporations that have acted fraudulently or illegally mismanaged the corporation and also acted oppressively or unfairly toward one or more minority shareholders. Shareholder oppression occurs when the majority shareholders in a corporation take action that unfairly prejudices the minority. It most commonly occurs in close corporations because the lack of a public market for shares leaves minority shareholders particularly vulnerable, since minority shareholders cannot escape mistreatment by selling their stock and exiting the corporation.10The majority shareholders may harm the economic interests of the minority by refusing to declare dividends or attempting a squeeze out. Majority may physically lock the minority out of the corporate premises and even deny the minority the right to inspect corporate
Despite the decision in Gambotto being widely seen as a significant victory for minority shareholders , as the High Court “dramatically turned the tide of power in favour of minority shareholders” the subsequent responses have seen an unwillingness to follow the ruling made, which therefore means a move away from minority rights, as was the case before the High Court judgement
Corporate governance is a set of actions used to handle the relationship between stakeholders by determining and controlling the strategic direction and performance of the organization. Corporate governance major concern is making sure that the strategic decisions are effective and that it paves the way towards strategic competitiveness. (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310). In today’s corporation, the primary objective of corporate governance is to align top-level manager’s and stakeholders interest. That is why corporate governance is involved when there is a conflict of interest between with the owners, managers, and members of the board of directors (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310-311).
Managers and shareholders are the utmost contributors of these conflicts, hence affecting the entire structural organization of a company, its managerial system and eventually to the company's societal responsibility. A corporation is well organized with stipulated division of responsibilities among the arms of the organizational structure, shareholders, directors, managers and corporate officers. However, conflicts between managers in most firms and shareholders have brought about agency problems. Shares and their trade have seen many companies rise to big investments. Shareholders keep the companies running
|greater. There are several examples of share holders using their power to influence large corporations. For example in 2003 as part of |
This situation can lead to negative consequences for a business when its executives or management direct the organization to act in the best interest of themselves instead of the best interest of its owners or shareholders. Stockholders of the enterprise can keep this problem from arises by attempting to align the interest of management with that of themselves. This normally occurs through incentive pay, stock compensation, or other similar incentive packages that now cause the managers financial success to be tied to that of the company (Garcia, Rodriguez-Sanchez, & Fdez-Valdivia, 2015; Cui, Zhao, & Tang, 2007; Bruhl, 2003; Carols & Nicholas,
Lipton, P. & Herzberg, A. (2010). Understanding Company Law. (15th ed.). Pyrmont, NSW: Lawbook Co.
While they have arrangement and discharging control over the directors of the enterprise, shareholders in expansive organizations, for example, the criminogenic Shell, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, Ford Motors, La Roche-Hoffman, BHP, A.H. Robins, General Electric, Johns-Manville, James Hardie, all enterprises whose disregard and willful dismissal of surely understood norms of conduct has brought about shocking mischief, have minimal impetus to guarantee that these supervisors carry on legitimately. This happens because financial specialists who don't lawfully own the property of the company used to do any harm, they have no individual legitimate obligation regarding any such damages brought about by the misapplication of that property. The rich shareholders who are continually telling the riches less and poor people to be responsible and in charge of the route, in which they act and live, are, in law, unreliable for the (regularly detestable) behavior of their companies. It deteriorates the
The article is written to help readers gain a solid understanding the roles of corporate governance, both inside and outside the company. Its goal is simply to impart information, not make claims or arguments on its own. I will be judging it mainly on the sources gathered, numerous examples and explanations given and the overall effectiveness it possesses in effectively communicating its ideas.
The company believes that the executives and directors should own the stocks. In order to be a stockholder,
In the corporate form of ownership, the shareholders are the owners of the firm. The shareholders elect the directors of the corporation, who in turn appoint the firm’s management. This separation of ownership from control in the corporate form of organization is what causes agency problems to exist. Management may act in its own or someone else’s best interests, rather than those of the shareholders. If such events
Categorized by the natures, shareholders are recognized as the banks, trusts, insurance companies, private equity fund, public pension funds, religious groups, worker unions or a unique individual who is a natural person. They can be divided into the majority or minority shareholders, institutional or individual shareholder based on the group sizes and functions. The majority or institutional shareholders are continually believed to play an unprecedented role in corporate governance. King (2009) believes one of the major reasons for market failures connecting with governance is due to the absence of institutional shareholders. From the view of the sponsor’s motivations, the shareholders are financial activists who focus on the firm’s performance and social activists who pay more attention to corporate social responsibilities. Within the limit of this research, we differentiate the sponsors population into two distinct groups: the gadfly group that represent for all hyperactive individual shareholders and the other shareholder groups which include all other remain shareholder
1. Consider Dunlap’s statement on page 3 of the case: “Stakeholders! Every time I hear the word, I ask how much did they pay for their stake? There is only one constituency I am concerned about and that is the shareholder primacy? Do you agree or disagree with Dunlap’s view of shareholder primacy? Explain
There is no doubt that the shareholder and stakeholder theories are both dominant theories of corporate governance. Having already discussed the pros and cons of each theory, it is now important to analyse the debate arising to be able to determine which of the two will enable better corporate governance. First of all, it is important to highlight that this debate has emerged over the last decade and has always been a concern for most advocates of good corporate governance.
The principals (the shareholders) have to find ways of ensuring that their agents (the managers) act in their interests.
The protections under the Corporations Act suffice to guard the minority from the majority’s unfair wrongdoing. In fact, the Australian corporate law provides significant protections on shareholders. To support the argument, this essay discusses Foss v Harbottle rule and derivative action. It also elaborates exceptions to the rule, especially ‘fraud on the minority’ and statutory protections available for the minority protection under the Corporations Act. These are analysed in views of organic theory, economic theory and aggregate theory. It concludes with that specific protections for the minority are unnecessary because these may lose the balance of a corporation and the minority and majority members.