The increasing role professional service firms play in the reform of shareholders' meetings

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of consultants, professional service firms or knowledge intermediaries in articulating the collective action of shareholders. The regulatory background is the current proposals for the reform of General Meetings of Shareholders in Spain. General Meetings are particularly revealing of shareholder activism, as they are the forum in which shareholders' actions can be most effective. We believe that our arguments are, to a very large extent, equally applicable to other European countries, as these proposals have been put forward in Spain within the context of the wider governance reforms promoted by the Winter Report in Europe and other national and supranational regulatory efforts.shareholders meetings; corporate governance; consultants;