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Compares two corporate governance models: the Anglo‐American and the Continental European model. These corporate governance models differ strongly, and the differences are mainly due to differences in the business context. The problems arising from separation of ownership from control will thus have to be solved through different mechanisms. One important mechanism is the board of directors. The board composition of 122 companies has been analyzed in a Belgian empirical study. From the tests, finds a significant positive relationship between the number of directors in the board and a range of other factors. Shareholder structure does not seem to have an effect on the size of the board. A second variable concerning the composition of the board, is the percentage of external directors. Finds that the number of external directors differs significantly between companies with a different nationality and between companies that are listed or not. Size, shareholder structure and industry were not related to the percentage of external directors in a company.

The purpose of this paper is to show that previous research about financial and non‐financial causes of bankruptcy has neglected the time dimension of failure. The paper seeks to gain deeper insight into the failure process of a company, giving it a more grounded understanding of the relationship between the characteristics of a company, the underlying causes of failure and the financial effects.

The findings are based on a literature overview and in‐depth case study research.

Four types of failure processes were observed: the failure process of unsuccessful start‐ ups, the failure process of ambitious growth companies, the failure process of dazzled growth companies, and the failure process of apathetic established companies. Between these four failure processes, there exist major distinctions in terms of the presence and the importance of specific causes of bankruptcy, i.e. errors made by management, errors in the corporate policy and the importance of external factors.

The results of the study are based on qualitative, case study research. No attempt is made to quantify the existence and the importance of the findings. The major constructs that emerged as important in the research are well‐known concepts in the management literature. As a consequence, they should be further developed in order to quantify their effect in large‐scale studies.

Based on the findings, stakeholders of a company can have a clearer view of both the time dimension inherent in corporate failure and the impact of their own actions on bankruptcy.

The paper lays the ground for understanding the process of company failure. Company failure does not happen overnight and therefore a longitudinal and holistic perspective is needed.

Measures the influence a foreign take‐over has on the performance of a firm. More precisely, compares the performance of Belgian companies that have been taken over by Belgians with the performance of Belgian companies that have been taken over by foreigners. Concludes that foreign takeovers have no negative influence on the performance of companies. Moreover, it is clear that foreign companies take over better performing companies than their Belgian counterparts.

The objective of this study is to describe financial management practices in China by means of a qualitative, case study approach. A total of 16 firms in the Shanghai region were interviewed. The research results refer to: investment in fixed assets; financing methods and sources; dividend policy; working capital management; internationalization; and financial organization and financial departments.