Shareowners recognize that with more than 100 members the Chamber’s board is effectively ungovernable, leaving the door wide open for management. There are board committees on different issues, such as the environment, but committees do not govern, they recommend…
A company’s obligation to its shareowners also goes beyond disclosure. Companies also have an obligation to shareowners to oversee the activities of their trade associations. They can have a major impact on companies and pose a range of risks. It is important to understand the principal-agency relationship between companies and trade associations. Principals are responsible for the actions of their agents.
Shareowners look forward to hearing from Accenture, and the other 34 companies, in the very near future. Where do each of you stand as a company and what actions are you planning to take to reduce the dissonance between what you say you are and how that relates to your membership on the US Chamber of Commerce’s board? We know that you sit in many places. We need to know where you truly stand! (Can big US companies stay with the Chamber of Commerce when it contradicts their own policies?, Responsible Investor.)
Stephen Viederman, the author of the post on RI, is a Strategic Advisor to the Christopher Reynolds Foundation and one of the few people I encountered early on in the field of social investing who was also keenly aware of the importance of corporate governance… the rules.
Also interesting:
What if I told you I’d found a political group that for a hundred years had managed to be absolutely right on every crucial political issue? A political lodestone, reliably pointing toward true policy north at every moment. (Why the Chamber of Commerce Has Been Wrong on All the Issues — For 99 Years and Counting, Bill McKibben
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