An Examination of Corporate Governance Structures of Community-owned Corporations in British Columbia
John Curry, Han DonkerABSTRACT. This research is the first empirical study that focuses on corporate governance structures of community-owned corporations on First Nations reserves in British Columbia. Community-owned corporations are social enterprises which serve the goals of the community, such as education and employment creation. This exploratory research uses questionnaires, in-depth semi-structured interviews, a size index and a logit model to analyze corporate governance structures of business entities. The semi-structured interviews were used to examining three corporate governance models for business entities on First Nations reserves: the traditional native model, the development corporation model, and the modern native model. We find a close relationship between corporate goals and community goals and a close interaction between band governance and corporate governance. Our empirical evidence indicates that the native corporate model is common in small communities in British Columbia where businesses are closely controlled by the Band government. In larger communities a development corporation or a modern native corporate model with more self-governance of businesses exists. pp. 24-40