Is the Purpose of the Corporation Public or Private?

Should corporations pursue the public good? Or should they merely be attentive to it in a more vague way? Should that be taken on as a matter of moral obligation on the part of managers and the board, or should they be nudged in that direction by (institutional) shareholders? >>>

The Thorny Task of Advocating Good Corporate Behavior

In the war to control corporations, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the $300 billion pension fund, has decided that it is willing to actively press companies to emphasize the environment, diversity and good corporate governance, perhaps even at the expense of profitability. It may save the planet by changing the way companies are run, but will it lead to the returns Calpers desperately needs?

The turn came this month at Calpers’s board of trustees meeting….

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