Chapter 11: Legislative Excess or Regulatory Brilliance?: Corporate Governance After Sarbanes-Oxley

In a volume celebrating the new face of business in the twenty-first century, it seems appropriate to give some thought to the role legislation has played in bringing about this moral renaissance. There is no doubt that business has suddenly taken the moral high road; this is most evident in the area of corporate governance where we see multinational corporations (MNCs) with mission statements that proclaim a global commitment to fair labor practices and environmental sustainability while decrying the making of “grease payments,” even when operating in lands where the low-level civil servants who help corporations navigate a bureaucratic morass depend upon receiving small gratuities to supplement their meager government wages. While the proliferation of these admirable corporate creeds is most welcome, it would be naïve not to acknowledge the role external pressures have played in generating more ethical corporations.