Young Scholars Workshop on Corporate Purpose

Location:

Copenhagen Business School, Porcelænshaven, entrance 26, 4^th floor, ROOM: PH26_407,  DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.

This was an in-person event only. 

About the Event:

As part of the Corporate Purpose pillar of ECGI’s Responsible Capitalism initiative, this 3-day event brought together academic scholars, and business leaders to address the central questions relating to corporate purpose and capitalism more broadly. Submissions were invited from young scholars for a paper development workshop on September 20, 2023, hosted by the Center for Corporate Governance at Copenhagen Business School.

A growing research agenda examines how corporate governance, sustainability and corporate purpose are increasingly related. Corporate governance has come to focus on how companies organize purpose and sustainability activities.  It is increasingly clear that corporate purpose needs to be rooted in corporate governance through commitments by shareholders, boards and managers. Boards face growing demands to tackle challenges such as climate change, protection of labor and human rights, supply chain due diligence and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Shareholders engage in ESG investment and climate activism. ESG incentives are increasingly included in executive pay.

However, scholarship has remained rather silent on how this growing sustainability agenda influences the role of boards, owners and other corporate governance actors. It remains unclear how they manage these new pressures for social and environmental actions from public regulators, institutional investors, buyers, employees, and other stakeholders.

This paper development workshop was intended to explore the emerging research agenda that links corporate governance to purpose and sustainability. It seeked to shed light on how shareholders, boards, and managerial incentives address corporate purpose and sustainability. The workshop was primarily aimed at young scholars (PhD students, post docs, assistant and associate professors) who are developing new work and are seeking to establish themselves in their profession. The goal of the workshop was to provide them with an opportunity to discuss their work with leading professors in the field to further develop and strengthen their scholarship.

The workshop was organized by Jette Steen Knudsen, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Tufts University (Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School) and Steen Thomsen, Center for Corporate Governance, Copenhagen Business School.

Professor Ruth Aguilera, D’Amore Kim Business School at Northeastern University, Professor Bill Judge, Old Dominion University and Terry McNulty University of Liverpool Management School attended the workshop and provided feedback on papers.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner was provided with special thanks to a grant from the Carlsberg Foundation. Travel and accommodation costs were not covered.

For queries, kindly contact Trine Vestergaard tv.ccg@cbs.dk and copy to Elyse Nightingale Meaker enm.ccg@cbs.dk. 

To view details of the 3-day event, visit: https://www.ecgi.global/content/perspectives-corporate-purpose 

Open to the public:

Young Scholars Workshop (20 September)

Perspectives on Corporate Purpose (21 September)

Working Paper Prize Sessions, Wallenberg Lecture and Purpose in Practice Session (22 September)

Open to ECGI Members and invited guests:

ECGI Annual General Meeting (22 September)

ECGI Annual Dinner (21 September) (Become a member)