Corporate governance describes all aspects of the management and supervision of a company. In contrast to the internal organization of the company as defined, for example, in the Articles of Association, corporate governance also covers issues relating to its legal and factual integration into its environment, such as the capital market. In this respect, the original interest was in the (large) listed companies. Increasingly, however, other legal forms and medium-sized companies have been and are being addressed according to their specific requirements for good corporate governance. This also applies in particular to companies that are in the hands of financial investors and family-run companies.

Corporate governance is not new. Thus, the debate about the efficiency of management bodies, such as the supervisory board, but also the debate about co-determination in Germany has a long history. In recent years, however, the discussion of expedient aspects of corporate governance has reached unprecedented levels both nationally and internationally. The drivers were the numerous cases of poor management and corporate mismanagement. The globalization of the economy and the liberalization of the capital markets provided additional impetus for efficient forms of corporate management. Finally, in the recent past, national and international investors have been questioning governance modalities in stock market stocks; this with sometimes unpalatable consequences for the companies.