Valeur actionnariale vs. sociétale

Gouvernance Nouvelles diverses Valeur actionnariale vs. sociétale

Court-termisme : les propositions de The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute (par l’intermédiaire de The American Prosperity Project Working Group) vient de publier un rapport proposant de contrer le court-termisme qui gangrène les entreprises américaines. Dans « The American Prosperity Project: Policy Framework », le groupe de travail propose 3 pistes de solutions qui sont les suivantes :

 

  1. Focus government investment on recognized drivers of long-term productivity growth and global competitiveness—namely, infrastructure, basic science research, private R&D, and skills training—in order to close the decades-long investment shortfall in America’s future. Building this foundation will support good jobs and new business formation, support workers affected by globalization and technology, and better position America to address the national debt through long-term economic growth.
  2. Unlock business investment by modernizing our corporate tax system to achieve one that is simpler, fair to businesses across the spectrum of size and industry, and supportive of both productivity growth and job creation. Changes to the corporate tax system could reduce the federal corporate statutory tax rate (at 35%, the highest in the world), broaden the base of corporate tax payers, bring off-shore capital back to the US, and reward long-term investment, and help provide revenues to assure that America’s long-term goals can be met.
  3. Align public policy and corporate governance protocols to facilitate companies’ and investors’ focus on long-term investment. Complex layers of market pressures, governance regulations, and business norms encourage short-term thinking in business and finance. The goal is a better environment for long-term investing by business leaders and investors, and to provide better outcomes for society.

 

Pour une synthèse de ce rapport de travail, vous pourrez lire cet excellent article d’Alana Semuels dans The Atlantic « How to Stop Short-Term Thinking at America’s Companies » (30 décembre 2016).

 

There was a time, half a century ago, when what was good for many American corporations tended to also be good for America. Companies invested in their workers and new technologies, and as a result, they prospered and their employees did too.

Now, a growing group of business leaders is worried that companies are too concerned with short-term profits, focused only on making money for shareholders. As a result, they’re not investing in their workers, in research, or in technology—short-term costs that would reduce profits temporarily. And this, the business leaders say, may be creating long-term problems for the nation.

“Too many CEOs play the quarterly game and manage their businesses accordingly,” Paul Polman, the CEO of the British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, told me. “But many of the world’s challenges can not be addressed with a quarterly mindset.”

Polman is one of a group of CEOs and business leaders that have signed onto the American Prosperity Project, an initiative spearheaded by the Aspen Institute, to encourage companies and the nation to engage in more long-term thinking. The group, which includes CEOs such as Chip Bergh of Levi Strauss and Ian Read of Pfizer, board directors such as Janet Hill of Wendy’s and Stanley Bergman of Henry Schein, Inc., and labor leaders such as Damon Silvers of the AFL-CIO, have issued a report encouraging the government to make it easier for companies to think in the long-term by investing in infrastructure and changing both the tax code and corporate governance laws.

 

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

autres publications objectifs de l'entreprise

Proposition de The Aspen Institute contre le court-terme

The Aspen Institute a publié en mai 2014 un document intitulé « Unpacking Corporate Purpose: A Report on the Beliefs of Executives, Investors and Scholars » qui recense des entrevues et dans lequel il fait des propositions percutantes pour contrer le court-termisme. Quelles sont ces propositions ?

  • Alter incentive arrangements,particularly compensation packages, and gear them for the longer term
  • Fully investigate a way to monetize the matters that are currently regarded as “abstract” in order to compete for attention or complement concrete metrics like the stock price
  • Alter or simplify the tax code
  • Promote the partnership between a clear and formal declaration of mission and a thorough alignment with that mission
  • Foster%ransparency  – by demanding better communication skills among corporate managers to counter the pernicious effects of short-term thinkers
  • Create better balance in the corporation’s decision making structure, particularly by expanding the influence of employees, whose well-being tends to be linked to long-term planning and success.
  • Demonstrate a greater commitment to attracting and training strong leaders
  • Increase the visibility and exploit the power of research that measures and évaluates corporate reputation.
  • Explore the possibilities in new ways of forming corporations
  • Offer different classifications of stock that reflect the extent to which they represent long- or short-term orientations by the shareholders

Most commentary on corporate purpose and corporate governance is couched in narrow assumptions about what corporate exécutives and investors believe.  Rather than assume, we have commissioned independent research to ask executives, investors and scholars to unpack what they really believe about the purpose of the corporation.  Twenty-eight one-hour interviews were conducted in late 2013 and early 2014 and the results may surprise you.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian