CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: BIG IDEAS AND DEBATES?

Traditional conceptions of corporate governance are being challenged by recent events and debates in and outside Australia. Developments such as the Business Roundtable's 2019 restatement of corporate purpose, the World Economic Forum's Davos Manifesto as well as the ways in which companies and their directors are expected to identify, supervise, manage, and disclose environmental, social and governance issues, are causing corporations, directors and other stakeholders to stop and ask: what is the purpose of the corporation; what kinds of interests and consequences should directors consider when making decisions; and how far ahead should they look? Australian responses have been fragmented and uncertain, permeated by soft law. What lessons may be drawn from other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and the United States? How, and to what extent, should corporate law in Australia address the purposes and activities of a corporation and then require, or permit, the identification, supervision, management and disclosure of risk when those purposes and activities intersect with or affect the interests of shareholders, asset owners, financiers, regulators, governments and communities? Or is a whole of law response required which adopts a system-level view and review of the regulatory network affecting corporate conduct and governance in shaping the modern corporation and its role in society? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]