The Failure of Fiduciary Duty: A Ready-to-Use Corporate Umbrella?
“Companies that use the excuse of “fiduciary duty” to avoid good corporate behavior aren’t serving their investors well.”
It used to be that the relationship between a stockowner and a company was clear. You invested money, managers ran the business within the laws of the land and you got a return when the company did well and got none when they didn’t.
Now, it’s nearly impossible to know what individual shareholders own. It’s like when you’d put Silly Putty on the Sunday color comics and the image would be transferred to the Silly Putty, and then you’d stretch it and re-stretch it to distort the image until finally it was no longer recognizable. That is where we are with fiduciary duty.
But, does getting the biggest return have to conflict with our social and moral values? Are there less tangible returns we all want, as well?
Author and Shareholder Activist Bob Monks believes – and proves – how “good corporate behavior” and “good shareholder returns” are not incompatible. Learn the facts and join the debate as Monks finishes his “Citizens DisUnited“ series onTalkback.
As Bob Monks wraps up what has been a controversial and revelatory series on the state of corporate governance in America, we’ve partnered up with publishers Miniver Press to give away four copies of Citizens DisUnited to our readers. Here’s a closer look at the Talkbackseries penned by the author. Enter the giveaway [Guidelines] by signing up for our Daily News Alert and sending in your name, mailing address and email to [email protected] by 3pm EST, Friday, September 27, 2013. Subject the email “Citizens DisUnited” and be sure to share the giveaway with your network on Twitter and Facebook!
If you’re already an Alert subscriber, like us on Facebook and send us a Facebook message with your name, mailing address and email! We’ll announce the winners in our News Alert on Monday, September 30, 2013.
The Engagement Manifesto: Why Partnerships Aren’t Getting the Job Done on Sustainability
“The United Nations Global Compact, Clinton Global Initiative and their members must extend their efforts and resources to engage investors and consumers to finally bring them onto the playing field.”
A number of high-profile events happening this week in New York will focus on CSR, sustainability and shared value. The UNGC’s Leader’s Summit kicks off first, followed by the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative and the Social Good Summit. It’s a week when world leaders and organizations are grappling with the daunting, exciting task of taking stock of global development goals and setting a new agenda moving toward 2030.
On one side of the agenda are the communicators, amplifying sustainability messages and creating awareness of the issues. On the other side are the NGOs, governments and forward-looking businesses, the actors, seeking partners for “doing-good.”
The question becomes: Why isn’t their partnership getting the job done? Why does change and adoption on a mass scale remain a planet away?
Edelman’s Alan VanderMolen reviews the landscape and offers three succinct tips to bring investors, consumers and companies to the same playing field through what he calls the Engagement Manifesto. On Talkback.
New Investment Fund Will Advance Late-Stage Global Health Technologies
An innovative response to the challenge of financing global health, the Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF), supported by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will – for the… Read More.
Flouride or Fox in the Henhouse G. Benjamin Bingham discusses the use of the harmful chemical flouride, as well as the use of the Natural Step Framework in decision-making.