Business Ethics and Corporate Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region

As one considers the characteristics of corporate governance and the impact thereof on stakeholder engagement and business ethics in the Asia-Pacific region, one is struck by the wide diversity of corporate gover­nance models and social and cultural differences that exist in this very large geographic area. This means that in a book of this type, it is only possible to provide an overview of any individual country and it becomes virtually impossible to draw meaningful generalizations regarding the region as a whole. The approach we have taken in this chapter is to draw upon four examples of countries in the region, not because they are representative of certain regional characteristics, but because in themselves they are repre­sentative of the diversity that may be found in the Asia-Pacific region. It may then be possible to group other countries with each of the four exam­ples so as to develop a more textured picture of corporate governance and business ethics in the region.