Corporate governance is the combination of rules, processes and laws by which businesses are operated, regulated and controlled in order to fight corruption and ensure that businesses follow a code of ethical conduct. Photo: Syda Productions / Mostphotos

The Swedish Corporate Governance Institute (SCGI) will be focused on topical legal and regulatory issues as well as legal and market practices relevant for Swedish business, companies and the stock market. Through theoretical and empirical research across the areas of law in combination with economics, accounting and business, the work aims to be of direct practical relevance to listed companies, investors and policymakers. Thus, SCGI can contribute to furthering knowledge of the Swedish corporate governance model, as well as serve as a platform for increased cooperation between practitioners and academia on corporate governance issues.

– SCGI will conduct research with direct, applied relevance to companies and regulators in the field of corporate governance, and work to advance the understanding and development of the Swedish model of corporate governance, says Professor Göran Millqvist, Director of the Stockholm Centre for Commercial Law (SCCL) - to which the Institute is affiliated.

One of SCGI's core activities will be knowledge exchange with business leaders, policy makers and the general public. The Institute will offer relevant and research-based seminars on topical corporate governance issues, directed at academics as well as those working in the corporate governance field. While these seminars are an important channel to spread the Institute’s research, it is also an important way to get input on the Institute’s work.

Supported by a number of partners

SCGI collaborates with an extensive network of Swedish and international academics and practitioners, for example by being affiliated to the Global Corporate Governance Colloquia together with eleven other leading universities and colleges offering legal education. The work by the SCGI is made possible by the generous support of its partners (Alecta, Carl Bennet AB, FAR, the Association for Generally Accepted Principles in the Securities Market, IÄF, Lundbergföretagen, StyrelseAkademien and Nordstjernan), with whom the SCGI cooperates closely with in its activities and who helps the institute focus its research where it is most needed.  

Lundbergföretagen, the latest of these partners, has just recently joined the Institute in a ten-year collaboration to establish SCGI as a world-leading corporate governance research institute. Louise Lindh, CEO of Lundbergs Fastigheter and member of the board of L E Lundbergföretagen, says they have high hopes that SCGI will further the Swedish corporate governance model:

– A research institute focusing on Swedish and Nordic corporate governance has been missing, and SCGI is a very important initiative. We hope that SCGI's work will strengthen the Swedish model of corporate governance and provide the basis for defending our model in the EU and promoting Swedish competitiveness.

Note: The quotes in the article are translated from Swedish.