OUTGROWING SHAREHOLDER-CENTRIC MODELS OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE:
We're all familiar with the corporate governance structures that move beyond narrow shareholder-centric interests, which are common in Europe. These include co-determination and foundation-owned for-profit enterprises, not to mention cooperatives.
We would be forgiven for believing that, aside from cooperatives, the US houses shareholder-centric corporate governance structures. This is because we all face an obstacle that Ronald Coase highlighted more than 30 years ago.
Coase was aware of the difficulties in finding data on contracts and the activities of firms, which he knew were buried in the archives of government departments and agencies in Washington, D.C. (See: Coase RH, 1991, Prize Lecture. Available at: Nobel Prize Lecture. See: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1991/coase/lecture/ ).
This is a plausible explanation for why a groundbreaking model of governance created in the US, yet linked to a European multinational, has been hiding in plain sight for over two decades. If you're curious about it, you may want to stream the recent webinar on the YouTube channel of the United States Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE), where this governance model was explained:
<v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="A screenshot of a computer
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Description automatically generated"></v:imagedata></v:shape>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAX6wgekw8
Another case in point is the new governance structure of the company Patagonia, which has also been discussed on a USSEE webinar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtfcmgKB934
Both webinars are based on research published in the journal Ecological Economics, also available on ResearchGate:
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380543943_Overhauling_multinationals_for_the_Anthropocene_How_a_rogue_subsidiary_offers_a_blueprint_for_sustainable_development
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376480984_In_search_of_a_non-anthropocentric_middle-range_theory_of_the_firm_On_how_the_Patagonia_Purpose_Trust_granted_a_controlling_stake_to_nature
If you'd like to continue the conversation, your reaction or query is very welcome and will be given due attention if directed to the following e-mail: alejandro.agafonow[at]essca.fr
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Alejandro Agafonow
Full Professor
ESSCA School of Management
Paris
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