Society Insights

Corporate Power and Societal Expectations: The New Contract Between Business and Society For much of the twentieth century, the prevailing doctrine of corporate governance was straightforward: companies existed primarily to maximize shareholder value. Efficiency, profitability, and scale were the central markers of success. Today, however, that compact has fundamentally changed. Across markets and industries, corporations

Society’s Expectations of Corporate Power: Between Legitimacy, Accountability, and Overreach Over the past four decades, corporations have evolved from economic actors into quasi-institutional power centers shaping labor markets, environmental outcomes, digital infrastructure, and even geopolitical dynamics. This expansion has triggered a parallel rise in societal expectations: firms are no longer judged solely on financial performance

Rebuilding Institutional Trust Across the world, trust in institutions — be they governments, corporations, or public systems — is in steep decline. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 61 % of people globally feel that the system is rigged and no longer trust institutions to act in the public’s interest. This crisis is not

Society Insights: Business in a Fragmented World In the post globalization era, business leaders increasingly confront a world that is not fully globalized but fragmented across political, economic and technological lines. The old paradigm — where global trade and integrated supply chains created predictable value creation paths — is being challenged by geoeconomic fragmentation, policy