Changing Scenes In, From and Outside the Board Room: UK corporate governance in practice from 1989 to 1999

This paper is about changes in ‘corporate directing’, observed from interviews spanning the last ten years with Chairmen, Chief Executives, executive and non‐executive directors in nine large UK organizations. Not only has the economic, political and social context changed, the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of boards has also changed. This paper seeks to illustrate some of these changes, both inside and outside the board room, where the role of fund managers has also changed. It concludes that the Chairman and Chief Executive relationship provides a powerful axis around which board room culture (r)evolves and corporate governing takes place.