Shareholder Activism Shapes the New Corporate Governance

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Professor Frank Edwards is the faculty chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee and created the new corporate governance module that is part of the revised CBS core curriculum.

There is no more basic question in corporate governance than “who gets to decide.” We are moving away from a world where shareholders are small, passive investors to a world where investors hold sizeable positions in companies and want to be heard on vital corporate decisions.

There is a growing movement to give shareholders — especially institutional investors and substantial block-holders such as private equity firms — a larger role in corporate governance. In recent years, we have seen large individual activist shareholders, such as Carl Icahn and Warren Buffett, influence companies’ policies and strategies; activist hedge funds, private equity funds and union and public pension funds have successfully persuaded or forced changes upon recalcitrant managers.

But moving away from the traditional director-primary model raises the fundamental issue of what powers should shareholders have. Will more shareholder involvement disrupt the very mechanism that makes the public corporation practical, which is the centralizing power in the board of directors?

One controversial area is the adoption of majority voting standards. In the United States, the traditional way of electing directors has been by plurality voting in which directors typically are elected if they receive one or more shareholder votes in favor. Shareholders are now demanding that the plurality system be replaced by a majority vote rule, a system used in many other countries, including the United Kingdom. Some American firms have already voluntarily instituted some form of majority voting, while many others are resisting this change.

Another area of controversy is whether or not advisory or even binding shareholder “say-on-pay” resolutions should be permitted. The law in the U.S. specifies that even shareholder resolutions receiving a majority vote are nonbinding on the board. In the past, even shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation plans have not been permitted under SEC regulations. This has changed and evolved into a new, more profound issue: should a wider range of shareholder resolutions be permitted and should those receiving a majority vote be binding on the board?

Lastly, some shareholders want the right to propose resolutions pertaining to corporate social-issue policies. Resolutions on the emission of greenhouse gases, effects of climate change on less developed countries, research on renewable energy sources and national healthcare programs have all been proposed by shareholders.

In the future, managers will have to balance shareholder involvement with the practical considerations of running a company efficiently. Understanding what good corporate governance practices are and how these can contribute to the success of a company will help mangers find the optimal balance between these competing considerations. The goal of introducing corporate governance into the CBS core is to lay a strong foundation to help future MBA managers decide these issues and to manage successfully.

Photo credit: Daniel Martini



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