Introduction

The main objective of this introductory chapter is to present the theoretical framework and the main results of the empirical study that aimed to explore corporate governance mechanisms at national and cross-national levels. In particular, we start with an overview of the inter-disciplinary field of corporate governance. Next, we discuss the initial public offering event by way of background for the remainder of the book. In addition, we discuss how internal and external corporate governance mechanisms act and interact to influence the IPO event. Finally, we conclude with our cluster analysis of the twenty-one economies along prominent corporate governance mechanisms in order to begin to think about how national economies are similar and different as they seek to reconcile the many economic and social interests associated with the initial public offering event