Currently, there exists a distrust of corporate activity in the continuing aftermath of the financial crisis and with increasing recognition of the threats of climate change and global, as well as national, inequalities. Despite efforts in the arena of corporate governance to address these, we are still beset with corporate scandals and witness companies facing large fines for their environmental and cost-cutting misdemeanours. Recognising that the usual responses to dealing with these corporate problems are not effective, this book asks whether the traditional form of the joint stock corporation itself lies at the heart of these problems. What are the features of the corporate form and how does its current regulation underscore these problems? Identifying such features provides a basis for the discussion to develop towards suggesting more progressive regulatory developments around the corporate form.
More fundamentally, this book investigates a diverse range of corporate governance models that are emerging as alternatives to the shareholder corporation, including employee-owned, cooperative and social enterprises. The contributors are leading scholars from various backgrounds including law, management and organisation studies, finance and accounting, as well as experienced professionals and policy makers with expertise in social and cooperative business models and the role of employees in the corporation.
Part I: Corporate Reform 1. Corporate Schizophrenia: The Institutional Origins of Corporate Social Irresponsibility Paddy Ireland 2. Destruction by Ideological Pretence: The Case of Shareholder Primacy Gordon Pearson 3. The Separate Legal Entity and the Architecture of the Modern Corporation Jeroen Veldman 4. Dismantling the Legal Myth of Shareholder Primacy: The Corporation as a Sustainable Market Actor Beate Sjåfjell 5. Climate Change, Business Transformation Mick Blowfield 6. Capitalism: Why Companies are Unfit for Social Purpose and How they Might be Reformed Lorraine Talbot 7. Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006: Desperate Times Call for Soft Law Measures Georgina Tsagas 8. Corporate Governance, Responsibility and Compassion: Why we should Care Charlotte Villiers 9. Beyond Shareholder Primacy—The Case for Workers’ Voice in Corporate Governance Janet Williamson 10. The New Corporate Movement 9 Nina Boeger Part II: Enterprise Diversity 11. Recognising Facts in Economic Democracy David Erdal 12. Can Reduced Shareholder Power Enable Corporate Stakeholder Accountability? The Case of Triodos Bank Stuart Cooper 13. The Arrival of B Corps in Britain: Another Milestone Towards a More Nuanced Economy? David Hunter 14. Danish Foundations and Cooperatives as Forms of Corporate Governance: Origins and Impacts on Firm Strategies and Societies Peer Hull Kristensen and Glenn Morgan 15. What’s in a Name? Reflections on the Marginalisation of the Co-operative as an Organisational Form Anita Mangan 16. The Internationalisation of the FairShares Model: Where Agency Meets Structure in US and UK Company Law Rory Ridley-Duff 17. The Politics, Policy, Popular Perception and Practice of Social Enterprise in the Twenty-first Century Dan Gregory 18. Lessons from the Community Interest Company Nina Boeger, Sara Burgess and Julie Ellison
Nina Boeger is Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of the Centre for Law and Enterprise at the University of Bristol Law School. Charlotte Villiers is Professor of Company Law and Corporate Governance at the University of Bristol Law School.
