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Galvanising Shareholder Activism: A Prerequisite for Effective Corporate Governance and Accountability in Nigeria

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Abstract

Shareholder activism has been largely neglected in the few available studies on corporate governance in sub Saharan Africa. Following the recent challenges posed by the Cadbury Nigeria Plc, this paper examines shareholder activism in an evolving corporate governance institutional context and identifies strategic opportunities associated with shareholders’ empowerment through changes in code of corporate governance and recent developments in information and communications technologies in Nigeria; especially in relation to corporate social responsibility in Nigeria. It is expected that the paper would contribute to the scarce literature on corporate governance and accountability in Africa.

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Correspondence to Kenneth Amaeshi.

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Olufemi Amao (LLM, Warwick; LLM, Ibadan, Nigeria; LLB, OAU, Nigeria; BA, Ilorin, Nigeria; BL, NLS) is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, University College Cork, Ireland. He is a recipient of the President PhD Scholarship and the Department of Law Scholarship. His current research interests include Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, Multinational Corporations and Human Rights.

Kenneth Amaeshi is a Research Fellow at Warwick Business School. His research interests include commercialisation of intellectual property assets; governance of global innovation networks; R&D partnerships; sustainable innovation; multinational corporations and corporate social responsibility in developing economies. He is currently studying comparative political economy of corporate stakeholding and corporate social responsibility. He is the 2007 winner of the International award for excellence in the field of interdisciplinary social sciences, awarded by the international journal of interdisciplinary social sciences (Australia/USA).

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Amao, O., Amaeshi, K. Galvanising Shareholder Activism: A Prerequisite for Effective Corporate Governance and Accountability in Nigeria. J Bus Ethics 82, 119–130 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9566-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9566-2

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