The Handbook of Board Governance, 3rd Edition

77Cross-border Corporate Governance

Hari Panday, FCGA, FCPA, ICD.D, NACD.DC

President & CEO, PanVest Capital Corporations, Board Chair and Honorary Colonel

1. Where Do We Stand?

In the last three years corporate and political leaders have been challenged by corporate governance issues like never before. The new world order facing de-globalization is often in conversations; trading blocks and new geopolitical realities are front and center in boardrooms. Conversations around pandemic, supply chain disruptions, shipping route blockades, and fresh combat zones in Europe are redefining our new ecosystem. Corporations in maturing economies, say, G-7 countries¹ were heavily involved in international trade and commerce, joint-ventures (  J-Vs), and partnerships are having to reassess their strategic global footprint in light of sanctions, trade embargo, new import duties, hostage taking, advanced espionage, cyberattacks by state and nonstate actors, mass activism demanding self-determination and self-sufficiency, fresh demands related to child labor, climate change, social equity—the list goes on. There is no slowing down of these forces that are growing like the viruses.

The so-called globalization of trade and commerce often involved bilateral and multilateral arrangements, which are now shaping up as trading-blocks with preferred arrangements among signatory nations in some known and many new international markets. Purpose of international organizations set by the Western countries ...