By Mak Yuen Teen
Thank you to CPA Australia for honouring me with a formal launch of Volume 11 of the Corporate Governance Case Studies last night at the Singapore Division President’s Dinner, and to the many CPA Australia members who congratulated me.
When I worked on the first volume with CPA Australia, which was published in 2012, I did not expect that we would end up with one volume every year until 2022. This latest volume, Volume 11, will be the final volume in this series.
In all, the 11 volumes contain 237 cases – 84 Singapore, 54 Asia-Pacific (ex-Singapore), and 99 from the rest of the world. In 2020, I also co-edited a special financial services edition with my colleague, Richard Tan, also published by CPA Australia. That special edition contains 22 cases, with 17 cases re-edited and updated, and 5 new cases (2 Asia-Pacific and 3 rest of the world) that did not appear in the regular series. Therefore, in total, there have been 242 different cases.
38 cases have been translated to Chinese for the HK, PRC and Taiwan markets. The first 3 volumes containing 58 cases have been translated to Vietnamese in collaboration with the stock exchanges and other professional bodies there.
The cases were written from public information – except for a small number where the views of company management or institutional investors were sought and included (in which case, they were made clear). They were written to facilitate discussion of issues – not as analyses of a company’s situation.
I put in place a very thorough process to ensure that they are accurate, objective and well-written. The cases may cite comments reported in public sources which reflect the views of certain individuals or organisations but it is for the reader to make their own assessment of the situations described in the cases. After students in my course have submitted the cases as part of their coursework, I selected the best or most interesting cases. Students whose cases were selected are acknowledged as the original authors of these cases. An editorial assistant would check, rewrite, add content and update for recent developments, often with the help of other student assistants. I reviewed and approved every case, often doing more rewriting and adding more content. They were then sent to CPA Australia and I personally went through the proofs for the entire volume before its publication. It was a time-consuming exercise that took up a considerable amount of my time during the break between the two semesters from May to August each year. As recent cases have become more in-depth, I have also been spending an increasing amount of time on them. It is really my passion for corporate governance that has kept this going for so long.
All the cases are available online for free use. Over the years, many professors, universities and organisations have asked for permission to use many of the cases. I have used them in my own courses and in professional development programs for directors, senior executives and regulators that I conduct, and some of my colleagues have also used some cases for their courses. Many individuals have written to me or commented on social media about how much they like the cases and look forward to them.
I appreciate the partnership with CPA Australia. However, it is time for me to move on.
Corporate governance cases often raise issues that are controversial or sensitive. Those who follow my work know that I speak and write about corporate governance issues without fear or favour. I believe the final decision as to whether a case study should be published should rest with me, but this may not always be possible under the current arrangement.
Many have told me that they will miss the case studies. I hope that the series can be rebooted fairly quickly under a different arrangement. It may be that a new series will include more cases that deal with the “E” and “S” issues in ESG, as some of the cases already do. However, corporate governance will continue to provide the foundation for future cases, including cases covering broader sustainability issues.
I have also been talking to some stakeholders in the region about the possibility of partnering to write more cases of companies in other ASEAN markets – possibly including about companies which have been substantively improving their ESG practices.
In the meantime, I have some unedited and unpublished cases which I hope to edit and publish in due course.
As a Marvel fan, I think of this as just the end of Phase 1. Some may wonder why end at volume 11 and not volume 12. It’s a bit like asking why there are 23 and not 24 movies in Marvel Phase 1. Marvel Phase 1 started in 2008 with Ironman and ended in 2018 with Avengers: Endgame. Mine ran from 2012 to 2022 so the gap is the same.
More seriously, thank you to everyone who have given me support and encouragement for this series of corporate governance case studies over the years. For ease of access, I have also included the earlier volumes, including the financial services edition, for download below.
