Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:12:35.882Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Democratizing the corporation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2011

Heiko Spitzeck
Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Michael Pirson
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Wolfgang Amann
Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Shiban Khan
Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Ernst von Kimakowitz
Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Get access

Summary

As the economic, environmental, and social footprints of multinational corporations MNCs have expanded, this influence has become a fact of life in the twenty-first century global economy. For champions of globalization, the rise of the MNC is cause for celebration. Job creation in poor countries, spreading innovation across borders, and building indigenous managerial talent are some of the rewards of MNC activity. For globalization skeptics, the picture, at best, is mixed. In their view, the borderless economy has intensified income disparities across and within countries, favored Northern firms at the expense of local entrepreneurs in part because of global trade rules, and accelerated the destruction of critical marine, forest, and atmospheric ecosystems as the culture of consumerism has fueled relentless demand for goods and services.

Within this unsettled landscape, the question of governance of MNCs has emerged as a pivotal issue among investors, civil society and government, and within MNCs themselves. The incongruity between the continued expansion of MNC scale and influence and the absence of a generally accepted governance framework is becoming increasingly evident. In a world where MNCs collectively are as economically and socially consequential as many national governments, what are the rules of accountability to harness MNC interests such that they serve the long-term public interest?

This core question has spawned a multitude of frameworks, principles, and norms to bring MNCs into alignment with societal expectations, including: the OECD Guidelines for MNCs, the OECD Principles for Corporate Governance, the World Bank's Global Corporate Governance Forum, the UN Global Compact, specialty organizations such as the Global Reporting Initiative (sustainability reporting) and AccountAbility (assurance standards), and investor-led initiatives such as the International Corporate Governance Network (corporate governance principles).

Type
Chapter
Information
Humanism in Business , pp. 229 - 247
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdelal, R. and Segal, A. 2007. “Has Globalization Passed Its Peak?Foreign Affairs January/February: 103–14.Google Scholar
Barnes, P. 2006. Capitalism 3.0. A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.Google Scholar
Blair, M. and Stout, L. 1999. “A Team Production Theory of Corporate Law,” Virginia Law Review 85: 247–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowe, R. 2001. Stakes, Not Shares. London: New Economics Foundation.Google Scholar
Cramer, A. and Hirschland, M. 2006. “The Socially Responsible Board,” The Corporate Board November/December: 20–4.Google Scholar
Davis, S, Lukomnik, J., and Pitt-Watson, D. 2006. The New Capitalists: How Citizen Investors are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Gates, J. 1998. The Ownership Solution: Toward a Shared Capitalism for the 21st Century. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.Google Scholar
Ghoshal, S. 2005. “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices,” Academy of Management Learning & Education 4(1): 75–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenfield, K. 2007. The Failure of Corporate Law: Fundamental Flaws, Progressive Possibilities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groban, D. O. 2001. “Introduction: Why Owernship for All?” Capital Ownership Group. http://cog.kent.edu/PapersMay2001/COGPapers.PDF.
Kelly, M. 2002. The Divine Right of Capital. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.Google Scholar
Lorsch, J. W. 1989. Pawns or Potentates: The Reality of America's Corporate Boards. Boston: Harvard Business School.Google Scholar
Minnow, N. 2006. “Substance Over Style,” in International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) 2006 Yearbook. London: ICGN, pp. 28–9.Google Scholar
Post, J. E., Preston, L. E., and Sachs, S. 2002. Redefining the Corporation: Stakeholder Management and Organizational Wealth. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ray, D. M. 2005. “Corporate Boards and Corporate Democracy,” Journal of Corporate Citizenship 20 (Winter): 105.Google Scholar
Senge, P., Sharmer, C. O., Jaworski, J., and Flowers, B. S. 2004. Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society. New York: Currency Books.Google Scholar
Springer, J. D. 1999. “Corporate Law, Corporate Constituency Statutes: Hollow Hopes and False Fears,” Annual Survey of American Law: 85–124.Google Scholar
White, A. L. 2006a. “Transforming the Corporation.” Great Transition Initiative (GTI) Paper Series No. 5. www.gtinitiative.org/documents/PDFFINALS/5Corporations.pdf.
White, A. L. 2006b. “The Stakeholder Fiduciary: CSR, Governance and the Future of Boards.” Business for Social Responsibility Occasional Paper. www.bsr.org/meta/BSR_AW_Corporate_Boards.pdf.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×