Shareholder Entitlement, Primacy and Empowerment

42 Pages Posted: 12 May 2010 Last revised: 4 Aug 2010

See all articles by Lorraine E. Talbot

Lorraine E. Talbot

University of York - York Law School; University of Birmingham - Birmingham Law School

Date Written: May 12, 2010

Abstract

My purpose in this paper is to examine three distinct approaches to the notion that companies should be run in the interests of shareholders; shareholder entitlement, shareholder primacy, and shareholder empowerment. I show how these ideologies were a response to a particular set of political and economic developments using material on the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States. I show the negative impact of shareholder primacy and argue that empowering shareholders – particularly where the only shareholders with significant economic power are institutions – is a retrograde and populist step that will merely amplify the damage caused by shareholder primacy governance.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Shareholders, Shareholder Primacy, Corporate Law

JEL Classification: B30, B31, K1, K30, F23, G30, K20, L20, L50

Suggested Citation

Talbot, Lorraine E., Shareholder Entitlement, Primacy and Empowerment (May 12, 2010). Warwick School of Law Research Paper No. 2010/10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1605252 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1605252

Lorraine E. Talbot (Contact Author)

University of York - York Law School

York YO10
United Kingdom

University of Birmingham - Birmingham Law School ( email )

Edgbaston
Birmingham, AL B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
326
Abstract Views
1,758
Rank
169,366
PlumX Metrics