Sky Blog
Corporate success lies at the heart of directors’ duties in many corporate laws, but few of those laws define success. As a result, there is growing confusion and concern about the objective of the firm.
Some scholars argue that it …
What is the role of corporations in the fight against racism? In 2020, following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, many corporations publicly embraced racial equity and expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and …
Over the past decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been an important agenda item in EU-China political dialogue and technical cooperation on promoting decent work and international labor standards. The EU has defined CSR as a process “whereby companies integrate …
Despite an increasing focus on corporations that profit from social injustices and misconduct, governments and international agencies have had limited success in addressing these issues. Advocates for change suggest that stakeholders, particularly retail consumers, could help, given that their purchasing …
How do firms allocate their spending on philanthropic causes or other socially beneficial activities? With 94 percent of large U.S. companies committed to charitable giving and some investors increasingly willing to forego financial returns to advance such activities, this is …
Water means life. More than half of our bodies consist of water, and it is an indispensable resource for production of food and other goods. It is fundamental for societies and ecosystems alike. While water covers approximately 70% of our …
The frightening deficiencies in U.S. public health preparedness are an appropriate, and pressing, topic to be addressed by the recently dormant corporate social voice.
One of the central tenets of the corporate social responsibility movement is a broader perspective on …
The debate over the corporation’s purpose is today a central topic of corporate law scholarship. So far, the discussion has advanced little beyond a two-sided view, considering only the approaches known as shareholder primacy and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In …
The economic benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and workplace gender diversity are areas of growing interest for business leaders and regulators. Research shows that socially responsible activities enhance firm value while irresponsible social activities destroy value and that firms …
Stock repurchases are popular. Between January 2009 and 2018, S&P 500 firms spent $4.3 trillion to buy back their shares, which is significantly more than these firms spent on dividend payments to their shareholders (Lazonick, Sakinç, and Hopkins, 2020). Stock …
Investment in companies that engage in sustainable corporate practices is growing rapidly, with those companies receiving approximately $17 trillion from investors so far in the United States alone. As a result, the majority of public companies now voluntarily disclose environmental, …
Voting is important in the modern public corporation. Shareholders often vote on corporate referendums, they vote to elect directors, and the directors vote on major corporate policies. Yet, despite the significance of voting, there has been little research exploring whether …
We are witnessing a shift in global economic activity from advanced markets to emerging ones. According to the World Bank Group (2021) Global Economic Prospects report, emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) have experienced higher real gross domestic product (GDP) …
Why do corporations, in particular public corporations, adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies? The CSR adage of “doing well by doing good” suggests that a firm can achieve higher financial returns by balancing the goals of different stakeholders. There are …
The global challenges of climate change and COVID-19 have created a grim economic outlook, with companies fighting for their very survival. As a result, companies are boosting their brands, and ability to compete, with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. The …
Voluntary industry-wide agreements have recently emerged as a way to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR). Competitors in industries as diverse as chocolate production, fashion design, and truck manufacturing aspire together to pay fair wages or transition to less polluting products. …
In recent years, institutional investors have publicly voiced their support for firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Most notably, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock— the largest institutional investor in the world, with over $7 trillion in assets under management—sent …
In a new article, I argue that standardized, credible, publicly available ESG information will enable corporations’ stakeholders and potential stakeholders to repurpose their corporations. By “repurpose,” I mean control the corporation and redirect its employees’ efforts to corporate social responsibility …
The escalating debate over corporate purpose is not confined to developed economies in the West. Rapidly developing economies in nations like India are similarly grappling with how to define and develop a legal framework around corporate purpose. Corporate social responsibility …
In a 1987 paper, available here, we argued that non-investor stakeholders play an important role in influencing financial policy and corporate valuation. We also distinguished explicit claims between a company and its counterparties from what we called implicit claims. …