Co-Determination and Forward Looking Corporate Governance: Measuring Workers’ Strength and Influence with a Co-Determination Index (MB-ix)
This project focuses on the relationship between co-determination and sustainable company practices in German companies. The first phase of the project involved the development of an innovative six-component co-determination index MB-ix (Mitbestimmungsindex) which measures the degree of embeddedness of worker participation in companies. Subsequent phases of the project have examined the relationship between co-determination (measured by the MB-ix) and the following elements of sustainable company practices:
- Elements of “good work”
- Investment in capital goods and R&D
- Sustainability-oriented executive remuneration
- Integration of sustainability and corporate governance
In order to measure these relationships over a longer time period (including before and after the 2008/9 financial crisis), data was gathered over a longer time period (initially 2006-2015, with subsequent annual updates) on approximately 200 companies per year. These include the 160 companies in the major stock indexes (DAX, MDAX, SDAX and TecDAX) as well as all listed parity co-determined companies.
The project, which started in December 2014 and runs until December 2018, receives generous financial support from the Hans Böckler Foundation. Publications and further information on the project can be found here: