Purpose -This paper seeks to establish a benchmark for the evaluation of the quality of corporate governance (CG) and to detect the factors that affect it in Greece.Design/methodology/approach -An index of corporate governance quality is constructed using binary variables. Data from annual reports are used to identify the mechanisms and practices of corporate governance. An ordinal probit model is used to identify the drivers of corporate governance.Findings -CG quality in Greece is quite low, in terms of international best practices. The main drivers of CG quality are firm size, leadership or power concentration and board characteristics. Greek firms' CG quality depends mainly on the balance of power within the firm, rather than performance or market for corporate control.Research limitations/implications -Data for the constructed index have been collected from the annual reports, and not from questionnaires.Practical implications -The study provides evidence that there is a different set of factors that affect CG quality from those in Anglo-Saxon countries. The paper addresses the issue of the relevance of proposed CG mechanisms to real CG problems. By identifying the factors that have an impact on CG quality, policy makers can focus on them to create a legal-regulatory framework that can improve the level of CG.Originality/value -The paper not only measures CG, but pinpoints its formulating factors as well. Furthermore, the need for new benchmarking tools to address the fundamental elements of the corporate environment (i.e. ownership concentration, the lack of a market for corporate control, etc.) in continental Europe is highlighted.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The aim of the paper is to highlight the differences between the corporate governance systems in Anglo-Saxon and Continental European countries, and to argue that legal convergence or isomorphism may become more of a problem than a solution in countries where an issue like minority shareholders' protection is the primary corporate governance problem. Design/methodology/approach -The paper uses a number of surveys to support the trend of legal and ownership convergence in Anglo-Saxon and Continental European countries. The main concern, in Continental European countries, is the expropriation of minority shareholders by the dominant major shareholders, whereas in Anglo-Saxon firms the main concern is the expropriation of shareholders by the dominant managers (agency problem). Then it analyses the legal initiatives to determine the appropriateness of the legal framework with the fundamentals characteristics of corporations. Findings -Regardless of the trend for ownership dispersion and convergence of securities laws and regulations observed in the last decade, the main characteristics of ownership structure remain unchanged and the two systems of corporate governance remain distinctively separate. The paper argues that legal-regulative convergence is not adequate to achieve real corporate governance system convergence. As long as the fundamental differences of the corporate governance systems differ, legal and regulating isomorphism may be the cause of problems and not a solution. Originality/value -The paper presents an alternative approach in legal-regulatory framework formulation. It advocates the introduction of a different set of practices and legal initiatives for countries with different characteristics and corporate governance problems.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to designing enterprise systems (ES). The goal is to create an information system that can be more efficient and able to contribute to a more stable and efficient corporate governance system.Design/methodology/approach -The new design approach is based on a retrospective analysis of the evolution of enterprise systems and the emerging business requirements.Findings -The new ES (Holistic Information System) does not diminish the problem of Corporate Governance (CG). The design and implementation of ES, according to modern CG principles and guidelines, can help all parties make rational decisions (through the power of logic and not through the logic of power), facilitate the market for corporate control, the flow of information and hence the efficiency of the CG system.Practical implications -The new framework can help information systems designers to understand and create a more holistic system. Also, it can help stakeholders understand the role that the ES can play in the corporate governance system and exert influence on managers to adopt an information system that covers their needs as well.Originality/value -It is the first attempt to merge the theory of corporate governance with the ES theory in order to formulate a new design approach.

Remuneration is considered to be closely connected with financial performance (positively), firm size (positively), the organizational structure (negatively) and corporate governance mechanisms (negatively). Furthermore, a connection of ownership structure and executives’ remuneration has been well established (theoretically and empirically) in the literature (agency theory). The paper examines if these relationships are valid in Greece. Greece hasn’t the characteristics of an Anglo-Saxon country. Overall the study has shown that remuneration levels in Greece are defined by a different set of factors than the ones that are prominent in an Aglo-Saxon country. Notably, fundamental financial measures of performance are more widely used. The age of firms and corporate governance quality have a catalytic impact on remuneration levels.