Municipal corporations can be seen as a method of disintegrating municipal operations, but retaining control through those corporations. We assume that the municipal influence of the corporation can be described through the concept of governance strategy. Through a case study of seven corporations in one Swedish municipality, we found that emphasis was put on corporate strategy as a governance mechanism and that the board only retained a latent capacity. Furthermore, financial control and executive compensation were hardly ever used as governance mechanisms, which led us to formulate the ‘chamber concert’ hypothesis: the use of governance mechanisms is influenced by traditions, norms, knowledge and governance needs.