There is widespread concern that corporate governance mechanisms have failed to prevent previous scandals manifest in the failure of some large corporations. Consequently, improvements in corporate governance are being sought, like those embodied in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and regulators are considering further changes to improve the corporate governance system. Recently, legislation in many countries has pointed to the protection of shareholders. For example, the UK has revised the Combined Code with the aim of improving corporate governance. Against this background, this paper provides a conceptual perspective of shareholder empowerment, suggesting different but complementary ways of achieving this. Strategies to enhance shareholder empowerment include the formation of shareholder committees, improving shareholders' access to corporate information and shareholder activism.