This area of work is concerned with the role of legal institutions in promoting financial development and economic growth. This includes research projects on issues affecting the governance, management and regulation of companies, including board structure, executive pay, hostile takeovers, shareholder activism, socially responsible investment, corporate insolvency, inter-firm contracting, worker participation, employment protection, and labour standards regulation. This research has contributed to advances in methods of data collection and statistical analysis in the study of the relationship between law and finance, and to theoretical developments in the field of evolutionary law and economics.
Associated research themes
Employee consultation and restructuring
Employment legislation institutions and practice
Financial institutions and governance
Takeovers, ownership and executive pay
Universities in systems of innovation
Venture capital and hedge funds
Associated research projects
Addressing Gender Inequality through Corporate Governance
Analysis of Middle Market Firms
Analysis of the Relationship between Training and Business Performance
Assessing the Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME Survey)
Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship
Barriers to Innovation and Growth in High Technology SMEs: The Role of Absorptive Capacity
Business Failure and Macroeconomic Instability
The Capability Approach and the Implementation of EU Social Policy Directives
Capright: Resources, Rights and Capabilities in Europe
CIS4 and Oslo Manual Revision: Early Stage Pilot
Comparative Study of Knowledge Exchange in the United States and the United Kingdom
Competition, Takeovers and Investment
Competitiveness and Productivity of the UK Design Engineering Sector
The Competitiveness of the UK and its Multinational Companies
The Connectivity of the Arts and Humanities: New Analysis of Missing Links
The Contribution of Services and Other Sectors to Australian Productivity Growth 1995-2005
Cooperation, Stakeholder Representation and Business Performance
Corporate Governance and Innovation
Corporate Governance and Investment: An International Research Network
Corporate Governance, Corporate Finance and Economic Performance in Emerging Markets
Corporate Law and Economic Performance
Impact of the Enterprise Act 2002
Corporate Responses to Macroeconomic Changes and Shocks
Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (DIME)
Ethics, Regulation and Globalisation
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of HEFCE/OSI Third Stream Funding
Evidence Base for Innovation Policy (UK~IRC)
Evolution of Governance Arrangements in the Family Firm
Finance, Training and SME Performance: An Evaluation Study of the Small Business Initiative
FINNOV – Finance, Innovation and Growth: Changing Patterns and Policy Implications
Flexible Specialisation, Competitive Advantage and Business Structuring in the UK Computer Industry
From Employability to Capability: An Exploratory Approach on the Quality of Employment
The Future of Collectivism in the Regulation of Pay and Employment in Britain
The Future of Professional Work
The Globalising Behaviour of UK Firms in a Comparative Context
Government Support for Small Business Innovation and the SBIR
High Tech CEOs and Their Businesses
Impact of the Enterprise Act 2002
The Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
The Implementation of the Working Time Directive in the UK
Institutional Investment and Corporate Accountability
The Integrated Knowledge Centre (IKC) Commercialisation Laboratory
International Financial Regulation
International Innovation Benchmarking and the Determinants of Business Success
International Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances for the Development of British Management
Job Insecurity, Polarisation, Social Exclusion and Flexibility
Knowledge Exchange between Arts and Humanities and the Private, Public and Third Sectors
Labour Law and Poverty Alleviation in Low and Middle-Income Countries
Labour Market Reform and Social Inclusion: The Case of New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark
Law and Finance in Emerging Markets
Law, Development and Finance in Rising Powers
Manufacturing Strategy and Competitiveness
Modelling Business Duration and Business Failure
The National Small and Medium Sized Business Surveys
New Modes of Innovation: Managerial and Strategic Business Practices and Open Innovation (UK~IRC)
New Product Development Performance in the UK and Japanese Automotive Industries
Northern Ireland SME Benchmarking Survey
The Organisation of Entrepreneurial Technology Firms in Several European Countries
Pension Fund Governance and Socially Responsible Investment
Reflexive Governance in the Public Interest
Reflexive Law and Democratic Governance
Research Using UK Innovation Survey 2005 Data
The Role of "Soft Companies" and Government R&D Contracts in Development of SMEs
The Role of Technology Policy in Incubating European New Technology-Based Firms
SME Finance and Innovation in the Current Economic Crisis
Social Dialogue, Employment and Territories: Towards a European Politics of Capabilities
"Soft Regulation": Conforming with the Principle of "Comply or Explain"
Startup Finance: A Study of Micro Finance amongst Soft and Hard Companies
Strategic Advisory Board on Intellectual Property (SABIP) Review
Survey of National Health Service Reforms and the Working Lives of Midwives and Physiotherapists
The UK Innovation Research Centre (UK~IRC)
UK~IRC and CIHE Task Force: Enhancing Value: Getting the Most out of UK Research