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Firm Commitment
Book

Firm Commitment

Why the Corporation Is Failing Us and How to Restore Trust in It

Oxford UP, 2013 more...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

The corporation has immense potential for good, but it must reinvent itself. Corporate fraud, environmental disasters, collapsing industries and financial meltdowns have been common events since the beginning of this century. Corporate operation is fundamentally flawed, but most solutions ignore the complex realities of how corporations function and who they serve. In this important, challenging work, Oxford professor Colin Mayer philosophically examines the arcane policies that brought economies to the brink and explains how corporations can become powerful wealth-creating forces for social benefit. getAbstract recommends Mayer’s thoughtful – if sometimes a bit dry – essay to the layperson interested in financial systems and the inner workings of corporations, and to corporate leaders and government officials seeking to create better governance and regulatory policies.

Take-Aways

  • The public corporation – which separates ownership from control – is a powerful engine of prosperity.
  • Corporations should serve owners, workers, customers, investors and the community.
  • Anglo-American corporations focus on shareholders and their short-term interests.

About the Author

Colin Mayer is a consultant and a professor at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he served as dean from 2006 to 2011.


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