Organisation | European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
The European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) is a global research association and network that promotes corporate governance and facilitates the exchange of ideas and information between academics and practitioners. Explore cutting-edge research, publications, and events on corporate governance issues. Join the conversation with leading experts in the field.
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OVERVIEW
The European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) is a prominent global research association and network dedicated to advancing the understanding and practice of corporate governance. Established in 2002, ECGI serves as a hub for the exchange of ideas and knowledge between academics, policymakers, and practitioners in the field.
ECGI focuses on promoting research and fostering dialogue on various aspects of corporate governance. Their work encompasses a wide range of topics, including board structures, shareholder rights, executive compensation, and the relationship between corporate governance and sustainable business practices.
The primary goals of ECGI include facilitating collaboration among researchers, providing a platform for the dissemination of high-quality research through conferences and publications, and contributing to the development of effective corporate governance policies and practices globally.
ECGI operates as a network of academics and professionals engaged in corporate governance research. The organisation’s structure involves research members, including leading scholars, practitioners, and institutions, who contribute to its activities and publications. ECGI’s governance structure includes a Board of Directors and a diverse set of committees overseeing various aspects of its operations.
While ECGI’s primary focus is on corporate governance, its research and initiatives often intersect with sustainable finance. The organisation recognises the importance of integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into corporate decision-making, aligning with broader efforts to promote sustainable and responsible business practices.
ECGI offers a wealth of resources for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in corporate governance. This includes access to research papers, publications, and event proceedings. The organisation also organises conferences, workshops, and seminars to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration among its diverse community.
MISSION STATEMENT
To assist the top academics in the field of corporate governance in bringing their research to the attention of leading practitioners, policymakers and thought leaders by making state of the art knowledge accessible and relevant to them.
ORGANISATION TYPE
Issue Focused NGOs & Think Tanks
LOCATION
Belgium, Europe (EU)
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY EUROPEAN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INSTITUTE (ECGI)
Anti-woke corporate governance
1 September 2026
This research explores the emergence of partisan corporate governance, focusing on Texas as a conservative competitor to Delaware. It examines legislative changes to limit shareholder litigation and influence, the regulation of proxy advisors, and the resulting legal and political risks for corporations navigating an increasingly politicised regulatory environment.
Stakeholder engagement and ESG in China
30 August 2026
This research analyses China’s state-led stakeholder empowerment model for ESG integration. It identifies economic, policy, compliance, and sustainability drivers while examining channels such as shareholder activism and representative litigation. The article proposes a tiered institutionalisation framework to resolve procedural indeterminacy and strengthen collective action infrastructure within concentrated ownership structures.
Asset manager capture
28 August 2026
This research examines "reverse capture", where government actors pressure large asset managers to advance political agendas. It analyses how expanding presidential power and market concentration enable this dynamic, using the ESG retreat as an illustration. The authors recommend narrowing fiduciary duties to insulate investment stewardship from political interference.
Corporate governance scandals in India’s banking and financial services sector
28 August 2026
This research examines corporate governance failures in India’s financial sector, focusing on scandals at YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, and IL&FS. It analyses the impact of 'star' promoters, gatekeeper failures, and regulatory fragmentation, advocating for enhanced standards of care for directors and a wholesale reconsideration of sector-specific governance frameworks.
Regulating artificial intelligence in finance: Lessons from Singapore
5 October 2026
This research analyses Singapore's multi-layered approach to regulating artificial intelligence in finance. It evaluates frameworks like the FEAT Principles and Project MindForge while identifying risks such as deepfakes and bias. The paper recommends establishing a dedicated regulatory sandbox and shared responsibility frameworks to manage evolving technological and third-party risks.
ESG ratings and the French Duty of Vigilance Law
25 June 2026
An analysis of the 2017 French Duty of Vigilance Law’s impact on corporate ESG and financial performance. Using difference-in-differences analysis, the study finds a significant negative association with social and environmental ESG scores, suggesting the law reduces rating "gaming" or prompts the production of more realistic risk disclosures.
The value of non-value-maximizing managers
31 August 2026
This research argues that hiring managers biased towards poorly-measured goals, such as social impact, is often optimal. This selection allows organisations to implement high-powered financial incentives for well-measured tasks without neglecting non-financial objectives. The study highlights how managerial selection and incentive design function as complementary governance tools.
The Omnibus I Directive and the EU sustainable finance trilemma: Sustainability, simplification and harmonization
1 September 2026
This research analyses Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I Directive), which simplifies the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. It examines how narrowing regulatory scope and removing substantive obligations impacts the balance between sustainability, simplification, and harmonisation within the European Union's financial framework.
Greenwashing as aspirational signaling: From burden to benefit?
18 September 2026
This research analyses the transition of sustainability disclosures from voluntary practices to mandatory legal frameworks in the US and EU. It examines the 'greenwashing enforcement gap' and argues that aspirational signalling, despite inaccuracies, can drive institutional change and attract a prosocial workforce to improve corporate conduct.
Legal liability vs. proportional representation: What works in improving poor investor protection?
18 May 2026
This research evaluates Korean governance reforms, comparing director legal liability with proportional representation. Findings indicate that markets react positively to increased director liability, especially for undervalued firms. Conversely, mandated proportional representation triggers negative reactions, as investors fear boardroom conflicts may hinder strategic decision-making and reduce board cohesion.
Why shareholder-driven corporate social responsibility failed
21 May 2026
This report analyses why shareholder-led corporate social responsibility failed in the early 2020s. It argues that political forces blocking government regulation also dismantle private CSR initiatives. Using the BlackRock-Texas conflict as evidence, it concludes that direct political action is the only viable path for systemic change.
Templates in the EU Inc. regulation proposal
18 May 2026
This research evaluates the European Commission’s Proposal for an optional 28th corporate law regime. It argues that proposed model articles of association fail to support venture capital-backed firms. The authors identify four shortcomings regarding scope, process, logic, and safe-harbour effects, suggesting a dedicated drafting track and broader coverage.
Voice without influence? Global investor voting rationale disclosures in Korea
17 May 2026
This study examines whether global institutional investors’ voting rationale disclosures influence Korean firms’ gender diversity and climate-related policies. It finds stronger investor focus on board gender diversity than climate risk, limited influence on large firms, greater impact on smaller firms’ emissions reductions, and evidence that voting rationales affect the credibility of sustainability reporting.
Sustainable finance and corporate law: Lessons from the US
9 April 2026
This report analyses the trajectory of sustainable finance and corporate law in the US. It focuses on the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rule and California's state-level reporting mandates, examining the political and institutional challenges these initiatives face and the implications of a federalist approach for corporate compliance.
Socially-minded investors and corporate behavior
30 April 2026
This report examines whether socially-minded investors influence corporate behaviour through voting, managerial incentives, or identity investing. It concludes that existing channels offer limited impact and evaluates potential legal reforms, such as binding shareholder votes and mandatory disclosures, to better align corporate actions with these investors' preferences.
AI corporate governance and Ben & Jerry’s risk
This report analyses the governance structures of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Ben & Jerry’s. It examines the risks of appointing independent guardians to prioritise social missions over shareholder profits. The findings highlight how fully insulated guardians can harm investors and undermine their own missions without proper accountability mechanisms.
Optional shareholder voting
27 April 2026
This paper examines optional shareholder voting by institutional managers (IMs) using newly available SEC data on say-on-pay votes. Only 44% of IMs vote, yet their aggregate voting footprint is twice that of mutual funds. IMs use voting as a monitoring tool, with larger positions associated with greater opposition to management.
Reining in big tech corporations: Why platform governance requires structural regulation
18 May 2026
This paper argues that big tech platform corporations function as state-empowered artificial legal entities rather than private contractual arrangements. Highlighting their structural and governance power, the author suggests that these organisations require structural regulation and democratic oversight to recalibrate the delegated powers granted by states.
The EU Inc.: Half European, fully digital, and genuinely innovative
The paper analyses the European Commission’s proposed “EU Inc.” framework, a harmonised digital-first company structure for EU start-ups and scale-ups. It assesses governance, financing, codetermination, digital registration and cross-border legal integration within existing EU and national company law frameworks.
Legal form and corporate outcomes: Evidence from the societas europaea
Study finds Societas Europaea adoption improves firms’ international positioning, increasing foreign investor ownership and cross-border acquisitions. However, markets generally react negatively, information asymmetry rises, and shareholder returns weaken post-adoption, suggesting governance flexibility and supranational identity benefits may be offset by uncertainty and potential minority shareholder concerns.
Systematic stewardship on the waterbed
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
- Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE
- Goethe University Frankfurt
30 March 2026
Tröger argues corporate governance tools, including stewardship, say-on-climate votes and ESG-linked pay, cannot replace broad climate regulation. Firm-level interventions may trigger “waterbed effects”, shifting emissions rather than reducing them. Carbon pricing or comprehensive emissions caps are presented as more effective.
Investor democracy
13 February 2026
Examines investor democracy in pension funds using deliberative mini-publics and a binding member vote. Finds informed deliberation shifts preferences towards impact investing despite potential lower returns, with broader member support leading to increased allocations, demonstrating how structured participation can guide sustainable investment decisions.
Corporate climate governance
29 August 2025
Examines how mandatory climate disclosure regimes reshape corporate governance by integrating climate risk into decision-making. Develops a spectrum from “thin” to “thick” governance, showing a shift towards stakeholder-oriented models, enhanced risk management, and long-term value optimisation, with implications for fiduciary duties and corporate strategy.
Production and externalities: How corporate governance shapes social costs
20 January 2026
This working paper examines how corporate governance structures influence firms’ production decisions and associated negative externalities. Using a principal–agent model and empirical analysis, the authors show that costly managerial monitoring encourages performance-based pay, which can incentivise practices that increase socially costly production and broader social costs.
A bibliometric analysis of four decades of shareholder activism research
19 February 2025
This bibliometric review of 1,055 works (1983–2021) charts the evolution of shareholder activism research. It highlights a shift from financial drivers to sustainability-oriented goals. While interdisciplinarity is increasing, disciplinary silos remain. The authors advocate for holistic approaches evaluating non-financial impacts alongside traditional metrics.
Firm‐level climate change exposure
1 March 2023
The report develops a machine-learning method to measure firm-level climate change exposure from earnings calls across 34 countries. It identifies opportunity, physical, and regulatory dimensions and shows that these exposures predict green hiring, green patenting, and are reflected in options and equity markets.
ESG: A panacea for market power?
4 April 2024
This paper, “ESG: A Panacea for Market Power?” by Philip Bond and Doron Levit (2024), examines how firms’ social (“S”) ESG policies affect market competition. It finds that moderate ESG actions such as fairer treatment of workers or customers can reduce market power and improve welfare, while overly aggressive policies harm both firms and stakeholders. The authors show that competition in ESG policies among socially minded firms can deliver efficient, welfare-maximising outcomes, linking ESG adoption to market structure, corporate governance models, and executive incentives.
Outsourcing active ownership in Japan
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
- Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
14 July 2021
This report summarises private shareholder engagements in Japan by Governance for Owners Japan between 2009 and 2019. Findings show high success rates and positive abnormal returns, with quiet activism proving more effective than public campaigns. Evidence indicates such private engagements support Japan’s governance reforms and long-term shareholder value.
The economics of disclosure and financial reporting regulation: Evidence and suggestions for future research
1 December 2015
This report summarises empirical evidence on the economic effects of disclosure and financial reporting regulation. It reviews challenges in identifying causal relationships, assessing costs and benefits, and evaluating market-wide outcomes. The authors highlight limited conclusive evidence and propose priorities for future research to better inform policy and regulatory design.
Coordinated engagements
16 March 2025
This report summarises analysis of 31 PRI-coordinated investor engagements on environmental and social issues between 2007 and 2015. It finds that leadership structures, particularly two-tier models with lead and supporting investors, enhance engagement success, improve target company performance, and are associated with higher subsequent fund flows for participating investors.
Sustainable investing in practice: Objectives, beliefs, and limits to impact
12 August 2025
This paper surveys 509 equity portfolio managers on their treatment of environmental and social factors. Findings show most prioritise financial returns, with limited willingness to sacrifice performance. ES constraints from mandates, policies, and client values strongly influence decisions. Beliefs and constraints outweigh fund labels in shaping sustainable investing practices.
The unseen 'others': A framework for investor stewardship
12 August 2024
The report introduces an analytical model that expands traditional investment management by recognising multiple stewardship relationships beyond immediate clients and beneficiaries. It advocates for enlightened stewardship that considers the broader impacts on society, the environment, and the economy, urging the integration of such perspectives into stewardship codes.
Diversity washing
30 December 2023
This paper investigates the phenomenon of "diversity washing," whereby companies appear to prioritise diversity and inclusion (DEI) in their public discourse to a greater degree than their internal practices suggest. The authors use an empirical approach to evaluate the prevalence and effectiveness of this phenomenon.
