New project on purposeful corporations
The Platform Markets & Corporations in Open Societies currently engages in a project about corporations and their ‘purpose’. In this context, corporations are increasingly asked to provide a statement in which they reveal what they see themselves contributing to society at large.
Such a purpose statement would help to re-embed them in society, and ensure that profits are instrumental to their societal contribution. But to what extent is ‘purpose’ indeed a helpful tool in holding corporations to account? Isn’t it rather an empty promise, or even a harmful device leading to corporate un-accountability?
On 21 February 2022, our platform will host a seminar on these and related questions, bringing together a range of scholars from law, economics, governance, philosophy and religious studies, and psychology – including Elianne van Steenbergen (professor of Psychology of Supervision), Patrizia Zanoni (professor of Organization Studies), and Kees Koedijk (Professor of Banking and Finance). After the event, the platform aims to synthesise the seminar contributions in a form of written output.