Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Second Edition

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN MODEL

This is also known as unitary board model, as illustrated in Figure 14.1 in which all directors participate in a single board comprising both executive and non-executive directors in varying proportions. This approach to governance tends to be shareholder-oriented. It is also called the ‘Anglo—Saxon’ approach to corporate governance, being the basis of corporate governance in America, Britain, Canada, Australia and other commonwealth countries including India.

The major features of the Anglo—Saxon or Anglo-American model of corporate governance are as follows:

1. The ownership of companies is more or less equally divided between individual shareholders and institutional shareholders.
2. Directors are rarely independent of ...