Abstract
This chapter presents the evolution and current state of corporate governance practices and their application in Mexican family businesses. Family-owned companies are the leading way of forming business organizations in Latin America, even among large, listed companies. Given Mexico’s proximity to the United States, its corporate sector has aligned with many Anglo-Saxon administrative and strategic concepts, as well as having adapted the corporate oversight and disclosure measures that go hand-in-glove with the investments coming in from the north. That said, and maybe surprisingly, Mexico’s corporate governance model has more in common with the practices found in other Latin American and even Europe countries. The predominance of closely held, family businesses means that board members are inevitably selected based on family relationships and/or influence, such as “compadrazgo”. This has meant that regulatory efforts and the introduction The Code of Best Corporate Governance Practices have fallen short and have been unable to overcome the traditional power base of the business family.
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Notes
- 1.
Per the annual report, although the Zambrano family only owns around 2.25% of shares, it maintains and continues to control the company.
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Ramírez-Solís, E.R., Baños-Monroy, V.I., Sandoval, F. (2023). Mexico. In: Callund, J., Jiménez-Seminario, G., Pyper, N. (eds) Corporate Governing in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85780-6_10
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