The corporate governance scandals in the United States and Europe as well as the financial crises of 2008 to 2009 have made corporate governance (CG) a widely debated topic. A significant number of countries have revised their CG codes and regulations in order to increase the levels of CG efficacy.
This book is about corporate governance in Mexico. It is intended to provide an understanding of the characteristics and peculiarities of corporate governance of large Mexican firms. We have attempted to build on knowledge accumulated in the academic and professional empirical research. Our approach has the advantage of being grounded in factual evidence rather than being merely based on opinion. Hence, we believe this book can provide insights for practitioners and academics to make better judgments when confronted with CG issues in Mexico.
The book is divided in six parts. Part 1 looks at corporate governance from a macro perspective. It starts by explaining the peculiarities of corporate governance in emerging countries. It also summarizes the main contextual issues in Mexico and ends with a CG score comparison of Mexico and its main trading partners: the United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea, China, and the United Kingdom.
Part 2 of the book focuses on the Mexican CG system: its laws and regulatory bodies, the Mexican code of good governance, the historical evolution of the stock market and the peculiarities of local business groups that have been part of its corporate history since the 19th century. We finish part 2 by summarizing findings of the most recent academic articles (1998 to 2018) dealing with CG in Mexico.
Part 3 introduces the reader to a central piece of the Mexican governance equation: families. Because a significant majority of the largest firms are owned by families, we thought it would be worthwhile to review how different types of family involvement—ownership, management, and boards—might have different consequences for firm performance.
Part 4 is a central part of this book since it summarizes key characteristics of board structure and networks in the country.
Part 5 presents interviews with two of the most central directors in Mexico: Jaime Serra-Puche and Claudio X Gonzalez. Jaime is a leading independent director who was the chief negotiator of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Don Claudio is chairman of Kimberly Clark Mexico and former president of the Mexican Business Roundtable (CMN-Consejo Mexicano de Negocios).
Finally, part 6 presents suggestions to move the field forward in Mexico.