What is Shareholder Value

This chapter pursues a normative approach to corporate governance, bridging economic theory on the nature of the firm and corporate management strategy. It intends to show that from a welfare economics perspective there is room for improvement if governments are willing to revisit the legal framework and redesign the institutional boundaries of the firm. In concrete, echoing concerns being put forward by the World Economic Forum and other international organisations, it is proposed that the social accountability of the modern corporation and its institutional boundaries should be revisited on legal grounds. A new role for top management is advanced in the context of principal-agent theory.