Description: The financial crisis in 2007-2009 is one of the most important business events of all time. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008 was at the heart of it and caused significant disruption to global financial markets and the global economy. Understanding why Lehman failed is critical to understanding the crisis and in predicting future crises.
It has been argued by some observers that the Lehman bankruptcy was the result of weak corporate governance, but this point of view is by no means universally accepted. This assessment requires you to consider to what extent Lehman’s failure was the result of weak corporate governance.
The assessment requires you to apply the knowledge and analytical skills learned on the module to a real-life case of significant importance.
You should consider the wide variety of corporate governance mechanisms covered in the module and the role they played at Lehman.
In particular, you should consider the four key corporate governance areas: 1) board; 2) executive compensation; 3) financial reporting and audit; 4) shareholder rights.
To what extent was corporate governance responsible for the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers?
