Innovation and Sustainability in Law and Management

Around the turn of the twentieth century, and in parallel with the separation of ‘ownership’ and control, professional managers gradually took control of companies, bringing with them an ideology of balancing competing interests and engaging in innovation. This ongoing interdisciplinary project began with a historical analysis of the status of professional managers in company law, tracking the rise and fall of professional managers, as shareholder primacy corporate governance superseded managerialism. Two further analyses are planned. The first compares the law of corporate purpose in the UK and France, and evaluates how far this will create space for management to pursue sustainability and innovation strategies. The second examines the different ways in which institutional investors exercise their stewardship rights in order to identify which strategies are most conducive to innovation and sustainability.

‘The separation of directors and managers: A historical examination of the status of managers’ (2019) Journal of Management History (forthcoming) (co-authored with Blanche Segrestin and Armand Hatchuel)

‘From Balanced Enterprise to Hostile Takeover: How the Law Forgot about Management’ (2019) 39(1) Legal Studies 75-97 (co-authored with Blanche Segrestin and Armand Hatchuel)