Master 2025/2026

Corporate Governance

Type: Elective course (Strategic Corporate Finance)

Delivered by: School of Finance

When: 2 year, 3 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Konstantin Popov

Language: English

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course on corporate governance provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts and practices in the field. Students will delve into the fundamentals, beginning with an introduction to governance and the agency problem. More recent theories, such as stakeholder theory, upper echelons theory, stewardship theory and resource-based view will be considered. A brief overview of the historical development of corporate governance crises, tracing them from the Great Depression to the challenges faced in the 2020s, will be given. Student of the course will learn about the roles of governing bodies, including Board of directors (supervisory Board), Chief executive officer (CEO) and top-management team (executive Board) in corporate performance, sustainability and transparency. A special attention will be paid to the modern requirements for effective governance, including the role of supervisory Board in corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) transformation. The course concludes with an analysis of corporate governance through the lens of corporate financial performance, ESG transformation and transparency.Each lecture contains a theoretical descriptions and an overview of results of recent empirical papers considering the impact of different corporate governance characteristics on corporate performance, ESG transformation and transparency. Seminar classes will be devoted to analysis of practical cases together with the students, focusing on relevant corporate governance issues for BRICS countries. By the end of this course, the students will have a solid understanding of corporate governance principles and applied knowledge allowing them to conduct a comprehensive analysis of corporate governance in emerging markets. Additionally, the students will gain a comprehensive view of current trends in academic literature devoted to corporate governance, including relevant research questions and techniques. The level of the course suggests that the student has the basic knowledge of economics (microeconomics, macroeconomics), enterprise (management / corporate law or alike), corporate finance and statistics before joining the course. Absence of this knowledge is not a limiting point, but will increase the number of hours for learning the course.