기업의 소유지배구조와 정부의 역할

Government is neither the owner of big businesses nor their financier. However, government’s involvement in the corporate governance of private companies has been increasing recently for various reasons. The failure of any of a few very large corporations, including financial institutions, can take down a big part of the economic system. It may also have adverse impacts on the job markets which are politically sensitive. Government arranges acquisitions, sometimes providing the bailout funds to facilitate the deal. For strategically crucial companies, government acts as the guardian against the foreign capital as it was exemplified in the Unocal and Dubai Ports World cases. This article tries to find the right role of government in business through scrutinizing the recent cases of government’s involvement in corporate governance of some large private companies of the world. It finds that the concept of the national security is being replaced by the concept of the systemic importance. The global financial crisis has called some old principles into question. For the first time in its history, the US holds major ownership stakes in large companies and is playing an increasingly active role in their governance. This article suggests that politics and international relations also play an important role in the discussion on the government’s role in corporate governance of private as well as state‐owned enterprises.