The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century

For generations, we have defined a corporation as a business run by a capitalist elite, that uses its accumulated wealth to own the means of production and exercise economic power. That is no longer the reality. In the twenty-first century, our most desired goods and services aren't stacked in warehouses or on container ships: they appear on your screen, fit in your pocket or occupy your head. But even as we consume more than ever before, big business faces a crisis of legitimacy. The pharmaceutical industry creates life-saving vaccines but has lost the trust of the public. The widening pay gap between executives and employees is destabilising our societies. Facebook and Google have more customers than any companies in history but are widely reviled. John Kay, one of the greatest economists of our time, describes how the pursuit of shareholder value has destroyed some of the leading companies of the twentieth century.