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Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products. It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goods at lower prices, implement government policies, or serve remote areas where private businesses are scarce. The government typically holds full or majority ownership and oversees operations. SOEs have a distinct legal structure, with financial and developmental goals, like making services more accessible while earning profit. They can be considered as government-affiliated entities designed to meet commercial and state capitalist objectives.
Corporate governance refers to the mechanisms, processes, practices, and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated by their boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and stakeholders.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in, with, or supporting professional service volunteering through pro bono programs, community development, administering monetary grants to non-profit organizations for the public benefit, or to conduct ethically oriented business and investment practices. While once it was possible to describe CSR as an internal organizational policy or a corporate ethic strategy similar to what is now known today as Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG); that time has passed as various companies have pledged to go beyond that or have been mandated or incentivized by governments to have a better impact on the surrounding community. In addition, national and international standards, laws, and business models have been developed to facilitate and incentivize this phenomenon. Various organizations have used their authority to push it beyond individual or industry-wide initiatives. In contrast, it has been considered a form of corporate self-regulation for some time, over the last decade or so it has moved considerably from voluntary decisions at the level of individual organizations to mandatory schemes at regional, national, and international levels. Moreover, scholars and firms are using the term "creating shared value", an extension of corporate social responsibility, to explain ways of doing business in a socially responsible way while making profits.
In a corporation, a stakeholder is a member of "groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist", as defined in the first usage of the word in a 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute. The theory was later developed and championed by R. Edward Freeman in the 1980s. Since then it has gained wide acceptance in business practice and in theorizing relating to strategic management, corporate governance, business purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The definition of corporate responsibilities through a classification of stakeholders to consider has been criticized as creating a false dichotomy between the "shareholder model" and the "stakeholder model", or a false analogy of the obligations towards shareholders and other interested parties.
Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five countries. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S which holds approximately 28% of its shares and a majority (77%) of its voting shares.
Shareholder value is a business term, sometimes phrased as shareholder value maximization. The term expresses the idea that the primary goal for a business is to increase the wealth of its shareholders (owners) by paying dividends and/or causing the company's stock price to increase. It became a prominent idea during the 1980s and 1990s, along with the management principle value-based management or managing for value.
A privately held company is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the company's stock is offered, owned, traded or exchanged privately, also known as "over-the-counter". Related terms are unlisted organisation, unquoted company and private equity.
Corporate transparency describes the extent to which a corporation's actions are observable by outsiders. This is a consequence of regulation, local norms, and the set of information, privacy, and business policies concerning corporate decision-making and operations openness to employees, stakeholders, shareholders and the general public. From the perspective of outsiders, transparency can be defined simply as the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from the corporation.
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners.
Corporate sustainability is an approach aiming to create long-term stakeholder value through the implementation of a business strategy that focuses on the ethical, social, environmental, cultural, and economic dimensions of doing business. The strategies created are intended to foster longevity, transparency, and proper employee development within business organizations. Firms will often express their commitment to corporate sustainability through a statement of Corporate Sustainability Standards (CSS), which are usually policies and measures that aim to meet, or exceed, minimum regulatory requirements.
The Friedman doctrine, also called shareholder theory, is a normative theory of business ethics advanced by economist Milton Friedman which holds that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. This shareholder primacy approach views shareholders as the economic engine of the organization and the only group to which the firm is socially responsible. As such, the goal of the firm is to increase its profits and maximize returns to shareholders. Friedman argued that the shareholders can then decide for themselves what social initiatives to take part in rather than have an executive whom the shareholders appointed explicitly for business purposes decide such matters for them.
Economics of participation is an umbrella term spanning the economic analysis of worker cooperatives, labor-managed firms, profit sharing, gain sharing, employee ownership, employee stock ownership plans, works councils, codetermination, and other mechanisms which employees use to participate in their firm's decision making and financial results.
Shareholder primacy is a theory in corporate governance holding that shareholder interests should be assigned first priority relative to all other stakeholders. A shareholder primacy approach often gives shareholders power to intercede directly and frequently in corporate decision-making, through such means as unilateral shareholder power to amend corporate charters, shareholder referendums on business decisions and regular corporate board election contests. The shareholder primacy norm was first used by courts to resolve disputes among majority and minority shareholders, and, over time, this use of the shareholder primacy norm evolved into the modern doctrine of minority shareholder oppression.
In business, and only in United States corporate law, a benefit corporation is a type of for-profit corporate entity whose goals include making a positive impact on society. Laws concerning conventional corporations typically do not define the "best interest of society", which has led some to believe that increasing shareholder value is the only overarching or compelling interest of a corporation. Benefit corporations explicitly specify that profit is not their only goal. An ordinary corporation may change to a benefit corporation merely by stating in its approved corporate bylaws that it is a benefit corporation.
In business, a B Corporation is a for-profit corporation certified for its social impact by B Lab, a global non-profit organization. To be granted and to maintain certification, companies must receive a minimum score of 80 from an assessment of its social and environmental performance, integrate B Corp commitments to stakeholders into company governing documents, and pay an annual fee based on annual sales. Companies must re-certify every three years to retain B Corporation status.
Novo Holdings A/S is the Novo Nordisk Foundation's wholly owned holding company for Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Novo Holdings A/S was established in 1999 and manages the Novo Nordisk Foundation's assets, which in 2023 was worth almost DKK 1,114 billion Danish Kroner. The company generated a total income and investment return of DKK 31 billion in 2023.
Lise Kingo is a Danish businesswoman who currently serves as Independent Board Director at Danone, Sanofi and Covestro. Kingo is also a member of the Advisory Board for Humanitarian and Development Aid at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) is an international enterprise foundation focusing on medical treatment and research.
Steward-ownership structures a company's ownership in a way that separates economic rights from voting rights. Steward-ownership is considered an alternative to shareholder primacy models. Steward-ownership can be implemented using different legal forms depending on the type of company and jurisdiction.
References
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- ↑ Thomsen, Steen (October 1996). "Foundation Ownership and Economic Performance1". Corporate Governance: An International Review. 4 (4): 212–221. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8683.1996.tb00150.x. ISSN 0964-8410.
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- ↑ Jensen, Michael (September 2001). "Value Maximisation, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function". European Financial Management. 7 (3): 297–317. doi:10.1111/1468-036x.00158. ISSN 1354-7798.
- ↑ Mayer, Colin (21 April 2021). "The Future of the Corporation and the Economics of Purpose". Journal of Management Studies. 58 (3): 887–901. doi:10.1111/joms.12660. ISSN 0022-2380. S2CID 226329929.
- ↑ Bennedsen, M.; Nielsen, K. M.; Perez-Gonzalez, F.; Wolfenzon, D. (1 May 2007). "Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 122 (2): 647–691. doi:10.1162/qjec.122.2.647. ISSN 0033-5533.
- ↑ Hansmann, Henry B. (April 1980). "The Role of Nonprofit Enterprise". The Yale Law Journal. 89 (5): 835–901. doi:10.2307/796089. ISSN 0044-0094. JSTOR 796089.
- ↑ Henderson, Rebecca; Steen, Eric Van den (1 May 2015). "Why Do Firms Have "Purpose"? The Firm's Role as a Carrier of Identity and Reputation". American Economic Review. 105 (5): 326–330. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151072. ISSN 0002-8282. S2CID 153746145.
- ↑ Dherbécourt, Clément (June 2011). "George A. Akerlof et Rachel E. Kranton, Identity Economics. How our Identities Shape our Work, Wages, and Well-Being Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2010". OEconomia. 2011 (2): 327. doi:10.4074/s2113520711012114. ISSN 2113-5207.
- ↑ "From CSR 'greenwashing' to general 'SDG washing': the potential threat to SDG implementation | Emerald Publishing". www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ↑ "Insulin maker Novo Nordisk walks moral tightrope". Financial Times. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2022.