Following the spate of huge corporate collapses, much focus has been drawn to corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. Despite the moral deficiencies of recent collapses, Batstone believes it is possible to repair the crisis in consumer confidence in the corporate (American) world.
Saving the corporate soul & (who knows?) maybe your own comes with the subtitle of ‘Eight principles for creating and preserving integrity and profitability without selling out’ and at first glance, Batstone seems to just have provided generalisations without much practical application. However delving a little more deeply into the book, it is abundantly clear that he discusses the specific implications of the principles (in some detail) and ultimately provides a ‘wish list’ for corporate social responsibility and accountable social investment. Even better, each suggestion is supported by hard facts and concrete examples.
Independence of the corporate board is the mantra of the book and, according to Batstone, major overhauls are needed of director duties and boards if shareholder interests are to be truly protected. Alarmist? Not at all. It’s about time the ‘suits’ making the decisions were brought to heel and a social underpinning to corporate activity became a fact.
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