The New Capitalists: How Citizen Investors Are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda

by Stephen Davis, Jon Lukomnik, David Pitt-watson

Thanks to the rise of mutual funds and retirement plans, the actual owners of the world’s corporate giants are no longer a few wealthy families. Rather, they’re the huge majority of working people who have their pensions and life savings invested in shares of today’s largest companies. These grassroots owners have ideas about value that differ from those of tycoons or Wall Street traders. And corporate directors and executives are coming under increasing pressure to respond. The New Capitalists provides examples—from GE to Disney to British Petroleum—of enterprises whose shareholders have recently wielded their control in ways unimaginable just several years ago.

Authors Stephen Davis, Jon Lukomnik and David Pitt-Watson describe how civil ownership will profoundly alter our world—including forcing the rise of a new species of corporation. It has already begun demolishing old rules and habits, laying the groundwork for a new “constitution of commerce.” The authors spell out conventional thinking destined for extinction—and fresh strategies companies must implement to survive in the emerging “civil economy.” They also outline how investors, advisors, activists, and policy makers can make their voices heard.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stephen Davis, Ph.D. is associate director of the Harvard Law School Programs on Corporate Governance and Institutional Investors.

See also: Stephen M. Davis

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ceciliacalvoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

O livro trata do surgimento das grandes corporações, da abertura do capital, da emergência e do impacto social e econômico dos fundos de pensão como grandes investidores institucionais,investidores ativos, representes dos trabalhadores e aposentados como acionistas/proprietários de grandes empresas.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable fluff with exclamation points. Blew the roof off, then through the stratosphere! Argh.