The current financial crisis has deep macroeconomic roots, but the dominant view of the firm has made the crisis deeper and more devastating. Over the past few decades, maximizing shareholder value has become the main objective of the firm. Chief executives have been keen on this objective because their economic incentives have been clearly associated with stock market performance. Unfortunately, this has driven many CEOs to make terrible decisions based on short-termism and greed. In this way, the firm has become the object of anger, criticism and cynicism. In Building Respected Companies, Jordi Canals argues that we must address this problem by developing companies that serve society, not just their shareholders. This requires a new perspective of what a firm is, what the purpose of the firm in society should be and what the role of the board of directors and senior executives should be.
In the wake of the drastic changes that have occurred in the world banking industry over the past two decades, Professor Canals's new book addresses several important questions: are universal banks bo
Global companies are facing a new pressure to develop leaders with global mindsets. The war for managerial talent has never been so intense. Companies and business schools need not only fine tune prac
There is an acute sense that the 2010 financial crisis was a crisis of leadership, both at the government level and at the corporate level. The meltdown of financial markets and the fall of very powe
Over the past decade, leadership development has operated as a separate entity in international companies, focusing primarily on the challenge of globalization and how companies should nurture local t
