While this seems like a great idea in principle, it is challenging to implement in practice, especially when the interests of different stakeholders come into conflict, thus negating win-win solutions. The collection of work below provides rigorous solutions-based analyses of stakeholder capitalism which promote win-win solutions when they are available, or can become available with the right set of policies, while also acknowledging and creating frameworks when difficult tradeoffs must be made.
The institute caps off its formal year of studying stakeholder capitalism for its 2022 grand challenge with the release of a final report encapsulating its top findings in an actionable, solutions-oriented format.
CEO pay is the latest point of contention in the political fight over ESG, but the arguments have become oversimplified. When we think about good corporate governance, what does the evidence say about CEO pay? The results may surprise you.
There are few topics in business more current, more covered or more controversial than corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities. Proponents claim a business’s adoption of such principles yields outcomes that benefit all parties, driving win-win scenarios for internal and external stakeholders alike. But critics dismiss ESG implementation as a performative PR ploy, and argue that considering such non-pecuniary factors in corporate decision-making is unsustainable. Our (independent, nonpartisan) findings indicate both sides of the debate are missing the mark – and in hopes of advancing more productive conversations, we introduce below a research-based model for examining the trade-offs of ESG adoption for businesses large and small.
Some analysis indicates companies with diverse executive teams drive more revenue and are more likely to experience higher profits relative to their nondiverse peers, yet founding teams for both high-growth startups and the private capital groups that fund them stand in stark contrast to the U.S. working age population. Why? And why should it matter? In this week’s Kenan Insight, Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow Emmanuel Yimfor unpacks statistics on the composition of both high-growth startups and private capital groups, explores the economic and societal implications of their lack of diversity and provides suggestions to facilitate change.
The argument that ESG investing generates more stable and higher long-term returns has come under scrutiny, including recent data showing long-run underperformance of ESG funds over the past five years. In this Kenan Insight, we provide some clarification based on recent research that revisits fundamental questions: why and how some investors take ESG factors into account in the first place.
Rodney E. Hood, National Credit Union Administration board member, discusses recent ESG-related legislation and the role governments can play during a panel at the February 2023 Frontiers of Business Conference.
For some years now, environmental, social and governance investing has stormed the asset management industry with explosive growth. Tighter and increased oversight may finally bring it back down to earth.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Clinical Associate Professor of Finance Arzu Ozoguz discusses the SEC’s anticipated new rules around sustainability.
For our 2022 grand challenge, the Kenan Institute made the ambitious commitment to explore stakeholder capitalism and ESG investing – complex topics that have required the engagement of our global network of experts to unpack.
We Are All Human founder Claudia Romo Edelman talks with the Kenan Institute about why diversity matters for both employers and employees, and how Hispanic workers in particular are navigating their relationship to the workforce after the pandemic.
Moving to a clean economy will require innovation across the board, said MIT Sloan School of Management’s Jacquelyn Pless, a Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow, but it shouldn’t be presumed that environmental policy and the economy are at odds.
The Kenan Institute’s deep dive into stakeholder capitalism has exposed shortcomings in a key building block: ESG measurement. Our experts have explored the issue at length, proposing ways of refining these measures to produce structures that could meet the needs of multiple stakeholders while also working to design reporting free from political influence and agendas. As a next step, the Kenan Institute hosted a conversation featuring a business leader, investor and standard setter to discuss how we might turn these ideas into solutions to help integrate stakeholder capitalism principals into business and investment decisions.
The Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellows, appointed on an annual basis, comprise an exemplary set of global scholars committed to leveraging their individual expertise, thought leadership, research and networks to further the institute’s efforts to examine – and drive solutions to – the most complex and timely issues facing business and the economy today. The 2025 Distinguished Fellows work to support the Kenan Institute’s exploration of the skills gap.
While a welcome paradigm shift for critics of shareholder primacy, the concept of stakeholder capitalism conjures vastly different problems, prospective solutions and desired outcomes for different populations. The controversial broadening of a business’s mandate beyond maximizing profits to account for its impact on customers, suppliers, employees and executives is exceedingly complex. And as an increasing number of businesses grapple with the adoption of ESG frameworks and stakeholder capitalism’s tenets – along with the inevitable trade-offs between competing stakeholder groups such adoption brings – public and private sector leaders alike need guidance.
Our 2023 Frontiers of Business Conference will convene top researchers, corporate executives and policy leaders all working around the globe to navigate the balance of corporate value and values. Join us as our experts share objective, evidence-based solutions for implementing stakeholder capitalism and ESG frameworks more broadly.
The Kenan Institute’s annual Grand Challenge is a concerted yearlong effort to examine and drive solutions to the most pressing issues facing business and the economy.
Explorations of these topics deliver insights that shape policy, strengthen America’s workforce and promote business growth.