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企业管治报告A Report on Corporate Governance

Executive Summary
There has been restored interest in corporate governance and business ethics of modern companies since the year 2001, particularly on account of the bankruptcy of many large U.S. corporations. And a prominent business author named Gabrielle O'Donovan regards corporate governance as an internal system revolving around policies, processes and people, which help satisfy the needs of stakeholders by directing and controlling management activities with good business objectives, responsibility and integrity. (O'Donovan, 2007) A company needs to develop effective corporate governance, good moral business behaviors and codes of conduct. In establishing effective corporate governance practices and advocating good enterprise ethics, the corporate governance principles, such as the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations is a very good guideline. Foster’s Group Limited, one of the world’s greatest premium branded drinks companies, works very hard on developing effective corporate governance practices and business ethics.

Introduction
Corporate governance is “the framework of rules, relationships, systems and processes within and by which authority is exercised and controlled in corporations.” It encompasses the mechanisms by which companies, and those in control, are held to account. (Owen, 2003) Corporate governance is of great importance. A successful company has a good corporate governance system with an aim to accomplish its long-term strategic goals, bring considerable benefits to shareholders, board of the directors, employees, consumers and suppliers. Foster’s, short for Foster’s Group Limited, is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and one of the world’s greatest premium branded drinks companies. Foster’s Group Limited is now the union of some world’s best-loved quality beverage companies dealing in high-quality beverage including beer, wine, spirits and ciders. As for corporate governance, Foster’s possesses an effective corporate governance system which is conducive to sustainability leadership and engaging shareholders, the achievement of the objectives of the company, the assessment and minimization of risks, the guaranteed benefits of the employees. In addition, as a modern company, Foster’s Group Limited is also working very hard on the strengthening and development of business ethics and putting the emphasis on the importance of the enterprise ethics in developing effective corporate governance system. In order to realize the effective corporate governance, Foster’s complies with some corporate governance Principles among which is the company’s responsibility to deliver its corporate governance statements.

Corporate governance and business ethics

Business ethics, also called enterprise ethics, is the ethical principles, rules and moral standards that guide business behaviors in companies. With the increasing scandals arising and known to the public, some companies have lost the public’s trust and confidence with the result that these companies have no choice but to go broke and bankrupt. Meanwhile, certain apartment buildings called ‘bride buildings’ collapsed and some babies grew abnormally because of some fake or low-quality milk powder. Faced with so many tragedies and sc