Corporate governance project hosted at Cass wins 2019 AOM International Impactful Collaboration Award

The collaboration between the Modern Corporation Project, run by Jeroen Veldman and Hugh Willmott from Cass Business School and the Purpose of the Corporation Project led by Frank Bold, a public interest law firm, has won the 2019 International Impactful Collaboration Award.

The award, given by the Practice Theme Committee (PTC) and the International Theme Committee (ITC) of the Academy of Management, recognises international collaborations between academics and external stakeholders that have achieved demonstrable, external impact.

The partnership identified a growing sense of urgency on the link between corporate governance theory, practice and institutions and the materialization of significant corporate, social and systemic risks.

By bringing together leading representatives from academia, civil society, regulators and practitioner communities, the partnership built a platform that generates opportunities to develop relevant proposals for the reform of corporate governance and thus to engage with these risks.

Dr Veldman explains:

We started producing succinct statements signed by leading academics that describe the situation, implications and challenges associated with corporate governance in multiple disciplinary fields including company law, economic, accounting, political theory and management.

These statements formed the basis for a project in which the partnership engaged with practitioners, representatives of civil society organisations and regulatory bodies worldwide to identify relevant best practices and proposals for reform.

Filip Gregor from Frank Bold said these activities developed into an open platform that combined international interdisciplinary academic research, practitioner engagement and regulatory reform proposals.

With this platform, the partnership has provided concrete impacts, notably by informing the EU sustainable finance and responsible corporate governance agendas.

Just last year, the European Commission published an ambitious Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, which includes a chapter on corporate governance of public companies.

The assumptions underlying the analysis and measures of the Action Plan are aligned with the findings presented by the partnership in the “Corporate Governance for a Changing World” report.

The award is a confirmation of the impact of collaborative and interdisciplinary research and of the relevance of the work developed by the partnership and all the academics, practitioners and policy makers involved in this platform.

Dr Veldman said winning the award will help support the continuation of this valuable collective research.