The rapid rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is placing significant pressure on the established framework of corporate law. This pressure raises fundamental questions about whether these innovations require minor regulatory updates or warrant a re-examination …

Corporate law requires the directors of ordinary, for-profit corporations to manage firms in the best interests of shareholders, forbidding directors from sacrificing corporate profits in service of other goals. There has been longstanding debate, even amid proponents of this rule, …

The dominant shareholder primacy model of corporate governance makes shareholder wealth maximization both the purpose of a corporation and the only legitimate consideration for decisions by corporate directors.  Yet that single-stakeholder model is under attack on several fronts.  Numerous scholars …

We are living in a particularly polarized era, and corporate governance is no exception.  The divisions have threatened to spill over to Delaware, the preferred jurisdiction for incorporation in the United States, with several high-profile cases calling the state’s neutrality …

Can we speak of a “purpose” for corporations or, more broadly, corporate law?  The doctrine of shareholder primacy has long had an easy answer: Both individual corporations and corporate law should strive to maximize shareholder wealth.  But this reductive and …

What is the purpose of the corporation in society? Whose interests are corporate managers supposed to advance? How can corporate law and governance best promote social welfare? For the past 50 years, most scholars and business leaders would have answered …

In corporate governance circles, the clash between the different philosophies of shareholder primacy and stakeholderism rages on. In a recent article in the Columbia Law Review, Professor Aneil Kovvali challenged what he calls the “stark choice hypothesis,” which suggests …

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 …

I recently participated in a festschrift for retired justice (and noted stakeholderist) Leo E. Strine, Jr., hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Business. Justice Strine’s interventions in the debate over shareholder primacy have added heft, pragmatism, …

The widely accepted primary purpose of corporations is to maximize profit or value to shareholders, otherwise known as “shareholder primacy.”  Shareholder primacy represents not only the prevalent objective of corporations but also a norm: A seminal case in corporate law, …

In recent years, interest in alternatives to shareholder-centric corporate governance has increased significantly. It has been driven by a growing sustainability imperative – widespread recognition that business as usual, despite the short-term returns generated, could undermine social and economic stability …

The three primary determinants of economic growth – physical capital growth, human capital growth, and technological innovation – rely on citizens’ confidence that private property rights are secure. Essential to that confidence is the rule of law.

Rule of law …

Over the last few years, the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements have facilitated a deeper understanding of racial and gender inequality and have, generally speaking, begun to create tangible changes within American life.  At the same time, corporations have begun to …

The most vital and deeply practical argument for more broadly understanding corporate purpose comes from the management literature and the data on how to motivate people in organizations. Put simply, people in organizations do not work as hard or come …

Members of the academic community, the business world, and law firms have long been debating shareholder primacy, stakeholder governance, and corporate purpose. In a forthcoming essay, I outline these arguments but suggest that reform of corporate governance should be focused …