The Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance: An Empirical Study

What role do independent institutional investors play in the corporate governance of listed German companies? The authors provide insight into an empirical and qualitative research study, exploring the importance of communication and the role, independence and expertise, responsibilities, influence and monitoring of institutional investors.

Petra Nix is a lecturer in Financial Communications on the program for Advanced Studies in Corporate Communication at FHNW (University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland) in Olten, Switzerland. Prior to this she completed her studies in Business Administration, received her MBA from the University of Rochester and her doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Surrey. She has also completed various post-graduate courses at LBS, IMD and the University of St. Gallen. Petra began her professional career in executive assistant and research functions in various companies in the banking industry, utility and pharmaceutical business. She lead Investor Relations and Financial Communications at Wella AG and VIAG (now: E.ON AG). Following this she became Senior Vice President of Bank Vontobel, Zurich. In 2001 she became Member of the Management Board of Kirchhoff Consult Germany and Managing Director of the Swiss subsidiary. In 2009 she did a MBO of the Swiss subsidiary, which she owns and currently runs. Petra has published many articles for professional journals and has conducted various research studies.

Jean Jinghan Chen is a Chair Professor of Financial Management at Surrey Business School, UK. Prior to this she obtained a PhD in Economics from Lancaster University. Her research interests cover a wide range of topics in the area of financial economics and financial management, in particular, corporate finance and corporate governance, where she has published widely in books and leading academic journals, such as Corporate Governance: An International Review, European Accounting Review, European Financial Management, Journal of Business Research, International Review of Finance and Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics. She serves on the editorial board for the academic journals Corporate Governance: An International Review and Journal of Accounting Studies - A Publication of the Accounting Society of China, and is an associate editor of Nankai Business Review International. She is also a regular reviewer for 6 major international academic journals in financial and economic studies and has delivered international conference plenary/keynote speeches and seminars on topics related to corporate governance, participating in advisory and review bodies.