Repository logo
 

Team Production Theory Across the Waves

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Cheffins, Brian R 
Williams, Richard 

Abstract

Team production theory, which Margaret Blair developed in tandem with Lynn Stout, has had a major impact on corporate law scholarship. The team production model, however, has been applied sparingly outside the United States. This article, part of a symposium honoring Margaret Blair’s scholarship, serves as a partial corrective by drawing on team production theory to assess corporate arrangements in the United Kingdom. Even though Blair and Stout are dismissive of “shareholder primacy” and the U.K. is thought of as a “shareholder-friendly” jurisdiction, deploying team production theory sheds light on key corporate law topics such as directors’ duties and the allocation of managerial authority. In particular, the case study offered here shows that board centrality – a key element of team production thinking -- features prominently in U.K. corporate governance despite Britain’s shareholder-oriented legal framework. The case study also draws attention to the heretofore neglected role that private ordering can play in the development of team production-friendly governance arrangements.

Description

Reproduced with permission from Vanderbilt Law Review

Keywords

team production, corporate law theory, board of directors, shareholder value, private ordering

Journal Title

VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0042-2533
1942-9886

Volume Title

74

Publisher

Publisher DOI