William Lazonick and Jang-Sup Shin
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198846772
- eISBN:
- 9780191881770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198846772.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability
This chapter explains historical and systemic sources of institutional activism. Starting from re-examining underlying principles of New Deal financial regulations established in the 1930s that ...
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This chapter explains historical and systemic sources of institutional activism. Starting from re-examining underlying principles of New Deal financial regulations established in the 1930s that discouraged institutional activism, it argues that they were overturned in the 1980s and 1990s in the name of promoting “shareholder democracy.” It analyzes these misguided regulatory “reforms” including the introduction of compulsory voting by institutional investors, a proxy-voting rule change that greatly facilitated aggregation of proxy votes by predatory value extractors. The chapter argues that those reforms created a large vacuum in corporate voting because, contrary to the ideal of shareholder democracy and particularly with the increasing dominance of index funds, institutional investors had little ability and incentive to vote the shares in their portfolios. The main beneficiaries of these reforms have been the leading proxy advisory firms and a small group of hedge-fund activists intent on looting the business corporation.Less
This chapter explains historical and systemic sources of institutional activism. Starting from re-examining underlying principles of New Deal financial regulations established in the 1930s that discouraged institutional activism, it argues that they were overturned in the 1980s and 1990s in the name of promoting “shareholder democracy.” It analyzes these misguided regulatory “reforms” including the introduction of compulsory voting by institutional investors, a proxy-voting rule change that greatly facilitated aggregation of proxy votes by predatory value extractors. The chapter argues that those reforms created a large vacuum in corporate voting because, contrary to the ideal of shareholder democracy and particularly with the increasing dominance of index funds, institutional investors had little ability and incentive to vote the shares in their portfolios. The main beneficiaries of these reforms have been the leading proxy advisory firms and a small group of hedge-fund activists intent on looting the business corporation.
Neil Pollock and Robin Williams
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198704928
- eISBN:
- 9780191774027
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704928.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology, Strategy
This book explores the emergence of a new class of expert—the industry analyst—whose advice has enormous impacts across IT markets. In just over 30 years, Gartner Inc. has emerged as market leader ...
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This book explores the emergence of a new class of expert—the industry analyst—whose advice has enormous impacts across IT markets. In just over 30 years, Gartner Inc. has emerged as market leader with 40 per cent of the revenue of this $4.4 billion industry. Gideon Gartner in establishing the firm that bears his name created a distinctive model for offering and trading advisory services that could primarily help technology adopters facing difficult procurement decisions. The book will provide detailed empirical focus on Gartner’s innovations which include novel approaches to generating, validating, and defending their pronouncements about the digital futures (‘IT predictions’), their differential assessments of the capabilities and prospects of vendors in the market (through its signature product the ‘Magic Quadrant’), and its potent naming interventions (‘product classifications’). These assessments, though much criticised, are all highly influential, having reshaped understandings and actions within emerging and current technology fields. Drawing on recent debates within science and technology studies, economic sociology, accounting, marketing and organisation studies, the book examines the extent to which industry analysts’ advice is ‘performative’: framing understandings within sectors and pushing or ‘nudging’ innovation pathways or technology procurement choices in particular directions. The book argues that what may be at stake is less the performativity of knowledge and more how knowledge is performed.Less
This book explores the emergence of a new class of expert—the industry analyst—whose advice has enormous impacts across IT markets. In just over 30 years, Gartner Inc. has emerged as market leader with 40 per cent of the revenue of this $4.4 billion industry. Gideon Gartner in establishing the firm that bears his name created a distinctive model for offering and trading advisory services that could primarily help technology adopters facing difficult procurement decisions. The book will provide detailed empirical focus on Gartner’s innovations which include novel approaches to generating, validating, and defending their pronouncements about the digital futures (‘IT predictions’), their differential assessments of the capabilities and prospects of vendors in the market (through its signature product the ‘Magic Quadrant’), and its potent naming interventions (‘product classifications’). These assessments, though much criticised, are all highly influential, having reshaped understandings and actions within emerging and current technology fields. Drawing on recent debates within science and technology studies, economic sociology, accounting, marketing and organisation studies, the book examines the extent to which industry analysts’ advice is ‘performative’: framing understandings within sectors and pushing or ‘nudging’ innovation pathways or technology procurement choices in particular directions. The book argues that what may be at stake is less the performativity of knowledge and more how knowledge is performed.