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