Corporate Governance Models

1 Origins and Definitions of Corporate Governance

DOI: 10.4324/9781003225805-1

1.1 Importance of the Corporate Governance Concept

Although the concept of CG¹ has become a major issue within the business world only in the past three decades, the word governance dates back to the fourteenth century. The word governance, from its Latin root ‘gubernare,’ is generally identified either as the action or method to wisely and responsively govern organisations (Cadbury, 2002). Since the Cicero’s view of the role of governing according to which ‘he that governs sits quietly at the stern and scarce is seen to stir,’² the concept of CG has been developed throughout the years becoming a topic of extensive interdisciplinary reflection such as legal scholarships, ...