Companies Urged to Spell out their Purpose

Tim Human of IR Magazine covers SquareWell’s latest Insight “Making Corporate Purpose Tangible”. The survey polled the views of stewardship and responsible investment teams at firms managing a collective $22.1 trillion undertaken in January and February, shortly before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.

‘Investors have turned their eyes – and allocations – toward corporate purpose,’ says Sabastian Niles, partner at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, in a report on the survey findings. ‘They are looking for a comprehensive approach and appreciate that corporate purpose is inclusive of investor priorities.’

In recent years, companies have increasingly adopted a corporate purpose amid the growing consensus that businesses should focus on a wider range of constituents than just shareholders. A key moment came last year when 181 US CEOs, part of the Business Roundtable lobby group, signed a letter declaring that the ‘redefined’ purpose of corporations was to serve all stakeholders.

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