Explain how ownership structures differ around the world and how those differences may shape corporate governance policies and practices

Ownership ranges from dispersed, where many small holders own the company and the main risk is a principal–agent conflict with professional managers, to concentrated, where a family, the state or another company holds control. Concentrated control reduces manager–owner conflicts but creates principal–principal conflicts, in which controlling holders may benefit at minority holders' expense, for example through related-party transactions. Dual-class shares and pyramid (vertical) structures let controllers hold more votes than economic interest: with 10 votes per Class B share, a family holding a quarter of the equity, all of it in Class B, commands 76.9% of the votes, about three-quarters. Weak legal protection for minorities magnifies the risk. The trap is judging governance only by board composition, ignoring who holds the votes.