The study of company law is often seen as a tedious journey through complex statutes enlivened only by occasional glimpses of judicial activity. By contrast the real activities of firms, both small and large, family firms and multi-nationals are dynamic and fast changing. Company lawyers writing in the traditional texts tend to overlook the real nature of corporate activity and the 'rules' fail to link the ways in which companies behave in pursuit of their economic goals. Despite the growth during the last thirty years of research into company law 'in action' the textbooks have not changed. In this, the best book of its kind to be published in the UK, the editor draws together the best and most interesting recent research into companies, thus enabling students to gain a better and more profound understanding of company law as it affects modern corporations.