Firm Commitment: Why the corporation is failing us and how to restore trust in it

Abstract

The corporation is one of the most important and remarkable institutions in the world, affecting all of us all the time-feeding us, entertaining us, employing us. But corporations are also the cause of immense suffering, instruments of poverty, pollution, and financial crisis. And these problems are on the increase. Colin Mayer, distinguished financial economist, former Dean and now Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University, shows why this is happening and what we can do to restore trust in corporations What we need, he contends, are corporations whose values we all value, for which we are proud to work, from which we are confident to purchase, and in which we can expect a fair return on our investments. We need shareholders who appreciate that there are responsibilities as well as rewards for being owners and who are committed to promoting the interests of the corporation, not just their own. And we need firms to specify their values and principles clearly and precisely, and to establish boards of directors charged with upholding those values effectively. Using examples and stories from history and around the modern world, Mayer illuminates the essential elements that define a corporation and are the source of its problems - ownership, governance, accountability, and trust - and sets out an ambitious agenda for change. He challenges governments, corporations, shareholders and consumers to convert the corporation into a twenty-first century organization that we can trust to promote the interests of economies and societies around the world.