Cynthia Williams
York University, Osgoode Hall Law School, Faculty Member
We are pleased to present these articles that were originally presented at a symposium held at Osgoode Hall Law School on 6–7 November 2014.1 Our objective was to offer a symposium that looked at corruption from diverse perspectives, with... more
We are pleased to present these articles that were originally presented at a symposium held at Osgoode Hall Law School on 6–7 November 2014.1 Our objective was to offer a symposium that looked at corruption from diverse perspectives, with a broad national and international focus on business, financial, governmental, private sector, and enforcement corruption. Both the Symposium and the compilation of this special issue of the Journal were unique. They required an interplay between contributions from professionals working on the ground in various countries around the world (such as practitioners working in the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and Transparency International Canada, as well as police policy analysts and investigators working with various non-governmental organizations, partners in law firms, and investigative journalists) and academics who submitted scholarly articles based on their research pertaining to the phenomenon of corruption. Four academic artic...
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In this Article we examine the fiduciary duties of boards of directors under Delaware law, and conclude that those duties today require Boards to consider the rights and interests of stakeholder groups, including those rights and... more
In this Article we examine the fiduciary duties of boards of directors under Delaware law, and conclude that those duties today require Boards to consider the rights and interests of stakeholder groups, including those rights and interests exemplified in the international law of human rights. The Article will concentrate on three reasons why boards' fiduciary duties to their shareholders require consideration of international human rights: (1) the growing importance of Alien Tort Claims Act litigation (discussed in Part III); (2) changing institutional investor behavior (Part IV); and (3) developing public-private governance regimes (Part V), as illustrated by the United Nations Global Compact. To appreciate the context of these developments, the Article will start in Part II by sketching the changes occurring today in the social expectations of global business.
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Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Business Ethics, Sociology, Applied Ethics, and 21 moreCorporate Social Responsibility, International Business, Corporate Governance, Stakeholders, Corporate Ethics, Agency Theory, Social Norms, Social contract, Applied Economics, Multidisciplinary, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Theory, Business and Management, Financial Performance, Australian, Strategy Business, Indexation, Sustainable Society, Return on Equity, Business Society, and Return on Assets
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In this Article we examine the rapid emergence and expansion of a private-sector compliance and enforcement infrastructure that we believe increasingly may be providing a substitute for public and legal regulatory infrastructure in global... more
In this Article we examine the rapid emergence and expansion of a private-sector compliance and enforcement infrastructure that we believe increasingly may be providing a substitute for public and legal regulatory infrastructure in global commerce, especially in developing countries where rule of law is weak and court systems are absent or inadequate. This infrastructure is provided by a proliferation of performance codes and standards, and a rapidly growing global army of privately trained and authorized inspectors and certifiers that we call the "third party assurance industry." The growth in the third party assurance business has been phenomenal in the last decade. The business first developed to facilitate making and carrying out private contracts, but in recent years, assurance services are being deployed for purposes that are more appropriately seen as regulatory in nature. Third party assurance may thus be providing a new institutional structure through which privat...
Research Interests: Law and Corporation Law
In this Article we examine the fiduciary duties of boards of directors under Delaware law, and conclude that those duties today require Boards to consider the rights and interests of stakeholder groups, including those rights and... more
In this Article we examine the fiduciary duties of boards of directors under Delaware law, and conclude that those duties today require Boards to consider the rights and interests of stakeholder groups, including those rights and interests exemplified in the international law of human rights. The Article will concentrate on three reasons why boards' fiduciary duties to their shareholders require consideration of international human rights: (1) the growing importance of Alien Tort Claims Act litigation (discussed in Part III); (2) changing institutional investor behavior (Part IV); and (3) developing public-private governance regimes (Part V), as illustrated by the United Nations Global Compact. To appreciate the context of these developments, the Article will start in Part II by sketching the changes occurring today in the social expectations of global business.
This paper argues that key differences between the UK and the US in the importance ascribed to a company's social responsibilities (CSR) reflect differences in the corporate governance arrangements in these two countries.... more
This paper argues that key differences between the UK and the US in the importance ascribed to a company's social responsibilities (CSR) reflect differences in the corporate governance arrangements in these two countries. Specifically, we analyse the role of a salient type of owner in the UK and the US, institutional investors, in emphasising firm-level CSR actions. We explore differences between institutional investors in the UK and the US concerning CSR, and draw on a model of instrumental, relational and moral motives to explore why institutional investors in the UK are becoming concerned with firms' social and environmental actions. We conclude with some suggestions for future research in this area. Copyright (c) 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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Much has been written about the current crisis in the global financial system, and many thoughtful analyses have examined the causes and consequences of that crisis. This paper joins those analyses that argue that the crisis reveals flaws... more
Much has been written about the current crisis in the global financial system, and many thoughtful analyses have examined the causes and consequences of that crisis. This paper joins those analyses that argue that the crisis reveals flaws in the theoretical underpinnings of capital market regulation, particularly in those markets that had relied upon the assumptions of ‘market fundamentalism’ as a regulatory philosophy. We suggest a more Northern European approach to market regulation better accommodates the social values necessary to ensure stable, equitable economies. In these approaches, economic actors make decisions after having consulted relevant stakeholders. By taking this view, we challenge the tendency in Anglo-American regulatory theory to rely on the self-interest of market participants as an adequate substitute for external constraints on risk-creating activity, and we challenge the perspective that suggests that the financial system can be thought of as properly separa...