Building back better - a new paradigm for corporate governance

The COVID-19 era has exposed longstanding problems with current models of capitalism. Among these are ecological destruction, climate change, and inequalities within societies and between regions of the globe. Business enterprises and how they operate are recognised as necessarily playing an inherent role in creating a better life on our planet. Firstly, a fundamental shift in the objectives of firms must come about, from a short-term focus on profit as the end goal, to a broader enduring purpose to produce value to serve society and its multiple stakeholders, including the environment and future generations. These multidimensional purposes entail a change in mentality from a reliance on self-interest embedded in current capitalist corporate governance systems to instead embodying pro-social values, ethical principles, and trust. This chapter examines governance models and how they might be implemented to build back a society that better serves the interests of all its constituencies. These include new models of capitalism, especially stakeholder capitalism, impact investing, stewardship, and corporate governance structures and processes.