Governance and Steering of MOCs – Legal Perspective

Authors

  • Janne Ruohonen University of Eastern Finland, Business School https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9134-2799
  • Lassi Salminen Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business (MAB)
  • Veikko Vahtera Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business (MAB)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4335/19.3.705-728(2021)

Keywords:

MOC, municipally owned corporation, limited liability company, ownership policy, corporate governance

Abstract

Local governments often use corporations for public service output. In Finland, limited liability companies can be used as a means to produce functions that a municipality is required to engage in by law or those functions that are optional for a municipality. This paper explains the current state, regulative background and reasons for corporatisation in Finnish municipalities. We then present a legal analysis of the legal strategies provided in the legislation that a municipality can use to govern and steer its external corporate bodies. Understanding the legal boundaries and possibilities is imperative for extending local self-governance to MOCs, and to align their goals with those of the municipality.

References

Adams, R. B. & Ferreira D. (2009) Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance, Journal of Financial Economics, 94(2), pp. 291-309, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2008.10.007.

Kraakman, R., Armour, J., Davies, P., Enriques, L., Hansmann, H., Hertig, G., Hopt, K., Kanda, H., Pagendler, M., Ringe, W.-G. % Rock, E. (2017) The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach, 3rd edition (Croydon: Oxford University Press).

Association of Finnish Municipalities, Kuntaliitto (2019) Kaupunkien ja kuntien lukumäärät ja väestötiedot, available at: https://www.kuntaliitto.fi/tilastot-ja-julkaisut/kaupunkien-ja-kuntien-lukumaarat-ja-vaestotiedot (June 22, 2020).

Bainbridge S. M. (2018) The Board of Directors, In: Gordon J. N. & Ringe W-G. (2018) The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 275-333, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198743682.001.0001.

Bates T. W., Becher D. & Wilson J. I. (2017) Performance-Based Turnover on Corporate Boards, available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2654375 (June 22, 2020).

Bebchuk A. & Roe, M. (1999) A Theory of Path Dependence in Corporate Ownership and Governance, Stanford Law Review 52(1), pp. 127-170, https://doi.org/10.2307/1229459.

Bel, G., Fageda, X. & Mur, M. (2013) Why Do Municipalities Cooperate to Provide Local Public Services? An Empirical Analysis, Local Government Studies 39(3), pp. 434-453, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2013.781024.

Bergh, A., Erlingsson, G., Gustafsson, A. & Wittberg, E. (2018) Municipally Owned Enterprises as Danger Zones for Corruption? How Politicians Having Feet in Two Camps May Undermine Conditions for Accountability, Public Integrity, 21(3), pp. 320-352, https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2018.1522182.

Bruce, M. (2016) Rights and Duties of Directors 2016 (Croydon: Bloomsbury).

Černá S. (2018) Relationship of Shareholders'Agreements to the Management of a Company, In: Mock, S., Csach, K. & Havel, B. (eds.) International Handbook on Shareholders’ Agreements Regulation – Practice and Comparative Analysis (Berlin: De Gruyter), pp. 47-60, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110517026.

Charman, M. (2007) Contract Law (Devon: Willan Publishing).

Christensen T. & Lægreid P. (2003) Coping with complex leadership roles: The problematic redefinition of government-owned enterprises, Public Administration, 81(4), pp. 803-831, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-3298.2003.00372.x.

Constitution of Finland (731/1999)

Corvellec H. & Bramryd, T. (2012) The multiple market-exposure of waste management companies: A case study of two Swedish municipally owned companies, Waste Management, 32(9), pp. 1722-1727, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.04.005.

Davies P. L. & Worthington S. (2016) Principles of Modern Company Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell).

European Parliament OJ C 138 E, 07/05/2011 30.4.2010 available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2010-2217&language=EN (20 June 2020)

Ferrarini G. & Ungureanu M.C. (2018) Executive Remuneration, In: Gordon J. N. & Ringe W-G. (2018) The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 334-362, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198743682.001.0001.

Finnish Competition Act (948/2011).

Finnish Corporate Governance Code 2020, Securities Market Association, available at: https://cgfinland.fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2019/11/corporate-governance-code-2020.pdf (22 June 2020).

Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act (624/2006, »FCA«).

Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act Proposal (109/2005).

Finnish Local Government Act (410/2015).

Finnish Local Government Act Proposal (268/2014).

Finnish Patent and Registrations Office (2020) Number of businesses in the Trade Register, available at: https://www.prh.fi/en/kaupparekisteri/tilastot/lkm.html (31 January 2021)

Finnish Supreme Administrative Court ECLI:FI:KHO:2017:2.

Finnish Supreme Court ECLI:FI:KKO:2020:34.

French, D., Mayson, S. & Ryan, C. (2016) Mayson, French & Ryan on Company Law (New York: Oxford University Press).

Grešová, L. & Fuka, J. (2018) Perception of Intermunicipal Cooperation via Managerial Approach: Centralized Decisions or Voluntary Principle – What is More Efficient?, Lex Localis, 16(3), pp. 431-452, https://doi/ 10.4335/16.3.431-452(2018).

Grossi, G. & Reichard, C. (2008) Municipal corporatization in Germany and Italy, Public Management Review, 10(5), pp. 597-617, https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030802264275

Hakari, K. (2013) Uusi julkinen hallinta – kuntien hallinnonuudistusten kolmas aalto? (Tampere: Tampere University Press).

Hannigan, B. (2016) Company Law (New York: Oxford University Press)

Harris, M. & Raviv, A. (2008) A theory of board control and size, Review of Financial Studies, 21(4), pp. 1797-1832, https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhl030.

Haveri, A. (2015) Nordic local government: a success story, but will it last?, The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 28(2), pp. 136-149, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-09-2014-0118.

Hendry, K. & Kiel, G.C. (2004) The role of the board in firm strategy: Integrating agency and organisational control perspectives (Conference Paper), Corporate Governance: An International Review 12(4), pp. 500-520, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2004.00390.x.

Jansen, N. (2011) Contract Formation and Mistake in European Contract Law: A Genetic Comparison of Transnational Model Rules, Oxford journal of legal studies 31(4), pp. 625-662, https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqr011.

Jensen M.C. (2010) Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 22(1), pp. 32-42, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6622.2010.00259.x.

Jungmann, C.M. (2007) The Effectiveness of Corporate Governance in One-Tier and Two-Tier Board Systems - Evidence from the UK and Germany, European Company and Financial Law Review 3(4), https://doi.org/10.1515/ECFR.2006.019.

Jäntti A., Vakkala, H. & Sinervo, L-M (2019) Challenges of the Implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Finnish Legislation, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self-Government, 17(1), pp. 23-33, https://doi.org/10.4335/17.1.23-33(2019).

Kershaw, D. (2009) Company Law in Context (New York: Oxford University Press).

Keya, A. (2016) Directors' Duties. (Bristol: LexisNexis).

Kujala, J., Nystén-Haarala, S. & Nuottila J. (2015) Flexible contracting in project business. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 8(1), pp. 92-106, https://doi.org/ 10.1108/IJMPB-10-2013-0062.

Kurkela, K., Virtanen, P., Tuurnas, S. & Stenvall, J. (2019) The Actors Involved in Innovation Processes and Collaboration – A Case Study of Eight Finnish Municipalities, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self-Government, 17(2), pp. 247-266, https://doi.org/10.4335/17.2.247-266(2019).

Krüger Andersen, P. (2018) The European Model Company Act (EMCA) — a tool for European integration. ERA Forum scripta iuris europaei 19(1), pp. 77-85, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-018-0521-8.

Licht A. N. (2018) Culture and Law in Corporate Governance. In: Gordon J. N. & Ringe W-G. (2018) The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 129-158, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198743682.001.0001.

Linck, J.S, Netter, J.M. & Yang, T. (2008) The determinants of board structure, Journal of Financial Economics 87(2), pp. 308-328, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2007.03.004.

Mock, S., Csach, K. & Havel, B. (2018) Shareholders' Agreements between Corporate and Contract Law, In: Mock, S., Csach, K. & Havel, B. (eds.) International Handbook on Shareholders' Agreements: Regulation – Practice and Comparative Analysis, pp. 3-46. (Berlin: De Gruyter) https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110517026.

Mähönen, J. (2013) Finland. In: A. Fleckner & K. Hopt (Eds.), Comparative Corporate Governance: A Functional and International Analysis (International Corporate Law and Financial Market Regulation, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 393-443, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177375.014.

Mähönen, J. & Villa S. (2015) Osakeyhtiö. 1 – yleiset opit (Helsinki: Talentum).

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) (2021) Structural business and financial statement statistics, (Helsinki: Statistics Finland), available at: http://www.stat.fi/til/yrti/index_en.html (February 16, 2021).

Papenfuß, U., van Genugten, M., de Kruijf, J. & van Thiel, S. (2018) Implementation of EU initiatives on gender diversity and executive directors' pay in municipally-owned enterprises in Germany and The Netherlands, Public Money & Management 38(2), pp. 87-96, https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2018.1407133.

Penttilä, S., Ruohonen, J., Uoti A. & Vahtera, V. (2015) Kuntayhtiöt lainsäädännön ristiaallokossa (Helsinki: Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiö), available at: https://kaks.fi/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Kuntayhtiöt-lainsäädännön-ristiaallokossa.pdf (September 1, 2020).

Perovič, B.T. & Tomažič L.M. (2021) Legal Liability of Municipal Corporations: A Rational Choice Approach to Optimising Deterrence, Lex Localis – Journal od Local Self-Government, 19(2), https://doi.org/10.4335/19.2.415-437(2021).

Pönkä, V. (2017) The Convergence of Law: The Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act as an Example of the So-Called 'Americanization' of European Company Law, European Company Law 14(1), pp. 22-28.

Pönkä, V. (2019) Are cooperative societies transforming into cooperative companies? Reflections on the Finnish cooperatives act, European Business Law Review 30(1), pp. 77-99.

Ruohonen, J. (2019) Company Directors' Key Duties and Business Judgment Rule. In: Kangas, A., Kujala, J., Heikkinen, A., Lönquist, A., Laihonen, H. & Bethwaite, J. (eds) Leading Change in a Complex World: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (Tampere: Tampere University Press), pp. 245-258, available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-0845-2 (September 19, 2020).

Ruohonen, J., Vahtera, V. & Penttilä, S. (2021) Kuntayhtiö (Helsinki: Alma Talent)

Ruohonen, J., Vahtera, V. & Salminen, L (2019a) Hallituksen asiantuntemusvaatimuksen sääntely ja toteuttaminen kuntayhtiöissä, Lakimies, 6, pp. 727-757.

Ruohonen, J., Vahtera, V. & Salminen, L (2019b) Kuntayhtiöiden hallitusten koostumus monimuotoisuuden kannalta, Focus Localis, 47(1), pp. 44-63.

Savela, A. (1999) Hostile takeovers and directors (Turku: Gummerus).

Swedish Local Government Act (2017:725).

Toiviainen, H. (2008) An Introduction to Finnish Business Law – A comprehensive survey of the foundations and main rules of Finnish corporate law (Helsinki: Edita), available at: http://www.edilex.fi/lakikirjasto/6994.pdf (3 August 3 2020).

Toiviainen, H. (1998) Ownership and Control in Companies Limited by Shares in Finland (Helsinki: Finnish Lawyer's Publishing).

Torstein, H. (2019) Debate: Corporatization in local government – the need for a comparative and multi-disciplinary research approach, Public Money and Management, 39(1), pp. 5-8, https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1537702.

UK Corporate Governance Code 2018, Financial Reporting Council, available at: https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/88bd8c45-50ea-4841-95b0-d2f4f48069a2/2018-UK-Corporate-Governance-Code-FINAL.pdf (January 31, 2021).

Voorn, B. (2019) Municipally owned corporations: An introduction, In: Voorn, B. (ed.) When Politics Meets Professionalism: Features and Performance Predictors of Municipally Owned Corporations (Nijmegen: Institute for Management Research), pp. 10-45.

Voorn B., Borst R. T. & Blom R. (2020) Business techniques as an explanation of the autonomy-performance link in corporatized entities: evidence from Dutch Municipally owned corporations, International Public Management Journal, (Article in press), https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2020.1802632.

Voorn, B., van Genugten, M. & van Thiel, S. (2017) The efficiency of municipally owned corporations: a systematic overview, Local Government Studies, 43(5), pp. 820-841, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2017.1319360.

Voorn, B., van Genugten, M. & van Thiel, S. (2018) Background, Autonomy, Steering, and Corporate Governance: Determinants of the Effectiveness of (Governance of) Municipal Corporations, Conference paper, Conference: EGPA 2018.

Voorn, B., van Genugten, M. & van Thiel, S. (2019) Multiple principal, multiple problems: Implications for effective governance and research agenda for joint service delivery, Public Administration, 97(3), pp. 671-685, https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12587.

Downloads

Published

2021-07-22

Issue

Section

Article