Enhancing Board Effectiveness

22Board Effectiveness and Regulation

Explaining the Deficit

Gary Lynch-Wood and David Williamson

Introduction

It is almost beyond question that in the present market economy firms have become highly influential and, in some cases, powerful political and social entities. Firms have become essential to the creation of wealth and employment opportunities (see Lodge and Wilson 2006). They provide important private and public goods and services, and they create a great many innovations and discoveries in important areas like technologies and medicine. This explains why policies that encourage and support a thriving private sector are important for improving lives and tackling deep issues, such as poverty and exclusion (see OECD 2006; DfID 2011; ...