Convergence of corporate governance models in the context of globalization

The article examines the impact of globalization on the development of corporate governance. The basic concepts of globalization and the factors influencing the development of the modern world economy are analyzed. The process of liberalization of the business environment, development of scientific-technologocal progress and the development of global financial markets have a decisive influence on the activities of transnational corporations, turning them into global companies. These companies operate worldwide and the scope of their operations exceeds the size of the national income of many countries. Global business structure and international nature of the operations determine the need to develop harmonized standards for the implementation of the activities of large companies. Special attention in the paper is paid to the problems of corporate governance, which mostly determines the important corporate decisions and therefore the effectiveness of business development. The article presents the analysis of the main stages in the development of international regulation in this area and trends of improvement in theis area. The study examines the basic models of corporate governance, explains the process of convergence under the influence of contemporary processes of globalization, highlights the main factors of harmonization of corporate governance systems. Special attention is paid to the state of the Russian corporate sector and areas of improvement of corporate governance in Russian companies taking into account the contemporary processes of convergence of the models. The present study allows to conclude that there is an active process of harmonization of corporate governance systems, and to maintain the competitiveness and efficiency the large corporations are to improve the system and practice of corporate governance taking into account modern trends. There is a constant search for new forms of governance, management and leadership in big business, and the Russian public companies have to take into account the best practices of leading corporations and harmonised standards of international organizations in the field of corporate governance in order to maintain and improve competitiveness on the national and international markets

Transnational policy networks and change through internationalization (The Record of Project 5-100)

This article considers the ideational and political contexts in which Project 5-100, the Russian excellence in higher education initiative emerged, as well as the specificities of its organisational and behavioural model. While Project 5-100 has been studied in the academic literature as regards its efficiency and how it affected the performance and inner workings of the participating universities, the question of how the project came about and the characteristic traits of its internal set-up still remain largely overlooked. The study focuses on the involvement of local and international players, arguing that their successful and organic cooperation influenced both the architecture and the implementation of the project. This paper contributes to the literature on policy networks by showing that transnational actors do not necessarily undermine or challenge state power and can on the contrary help governments implement systemic change. Inspired by the international experience of establishing world-class universities, Project 5-100 was conceived and lobbied by a small but influential group of visionaries pushing for change who – acting in a concerted and purposive manner – acquired a novel and powerful capacity to use international expertise for the development of a key national project, capable of deeply transforming the country’s higher educational system

The Re-Emerging Role of the State in Contemporary Russia

I examine ownership structure of Russian firms during the 1998-2006 period, where a greater emphasis is placed on motivations behind increased government ownership in the latter years, when oligarchs' opportunistic influence on the firm diminished as state ownership correspondingly increased. As this phenomenon is also correlated with improved corporate growth during the period, I argue that state participation in corporate governance acted as an effective substitute mechanism to constrain wealth-tunnelling behaviour of corporate insiders and local bureaucrats in a country defined by a weak property rights system. © 2012 Springer-Verlag

Understanding the programmatic and contextual forces that influence participation in a government-sponsored international student-mobility program

Although prior research establishes the forces that “push” and “pull” students to participate in foreign study, the transferability of findings from earlier studies is limited by the absence of theoretical grounding. In addition, relatively little is known about how a government-sponsored student mobility program promotes foreign study in a nation with a transitioning economy. Using case study methods, this study explores the characteristics of students who participate in such a program and identifies the programmatic characteristics and contextual forces that promote and limit participation. The findings shed light on the appropriate theoretical perspectives for understanding student participation in a government-sponsored mobility program and illustrate the need to consider how aspects of the national cultural, economic, and political context influence participation. The findings also raise several questions about how an international student mobility program should be structured to encourage participation and maximize benefits to individuals and society within a particular national context