This study aimed to contribute to the strand of literature encompassing governance, sustainability, and stakeholder theory by addressing an inchoate element of responsible ownership: collective action by different stakeholders. Our study’s originality rests on the introduction of an ownership strategy as a governance mechanism for collective action and responsible ownership in order to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. Using a twofold empirical methodology—studying of archival data and qualitative case work—we provide empirical evidence from a case study of a Nordic energy company showing that applying an ownership strategy helped to strengthen the approach to SDGs and ESG while leading to positive benefits: in this case, the issuance of green bonds. Our theoretical contribution is the addressing of a gap in the literature exploring how an ownership strategy can be a uniting point for collective action, based on the hypothesis that an ownership strategy provides an important reinforcement of a “virtuous cycle”. Policymakers who are interested in promoting long-term commitment of different stakeholders with a focus on sustainability and improved agency should encourage the formulation of an ownership strategy that explains the owners’ commitment to the environment, social causes, and/or governance guidelines. Therein lies the practical contribution of this work. In this study, we found that an ownership strategy with these elements helped to strengthen the firm’s commitment to SDGs and ESG.
A new strand of corporate governance literature on ownership is developing the next generation of the concept of active ownership: responsible ownership. This paper aims to contribute to this strand of literature by addressing an inchoate element of responsible ownership: collective action by owners. We introduce an ownership strategy as a governance mechanism for collective action and responsible ownership and ask how an ownership strategy improves corporate governance. Using data from semi-structured interviews with owner representatives, board members, and non-executive insiders, together with observation and documentary analysis, we find support for the theoretical construction and an answer to the research question. Specifically, we find that the ownership strategy functions as a collaboration pact, which cultivates long-termism, and that the outcome is improved agency, i.e. that both the relationship between owners and directors and between directors and management is improved due to better alignment. The findings indicate that an ownership strategy establishes a much-needed long-term focus and commitment of owners while creating a sense of security and understanding among the members of the board of directors, i.e. that they are working with the will of their owners. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for corporate governance literature.
Þessi grein er á sviði stjórnarhátta og fjallar um rannsókn á eigendastefnu og stefnumiðuðum stjórnarháttum hjá Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur (OR). OR er sameignarfyrirtæki í eigu þriggja sveitarfélaga. Staða og þróun OR er áhugaverð vegna lagabreytinga sem knúðu á um að raforkuframleiðsla og -sala skyldi sett í sérstakt fyrirtæki og vera aðskilin frá veiturekstri OR. Í ársbyrjun 2014 var OR skipt upp í samstæðu sem samanstendur af móðurfélagi og þremur dótturfélögum. Við þau tímamót var sameignarsamningur OR endurnýjaður ásamt eigendastefnu, og stjórnarhættir fyrirtækisins endurskoðaðir. Í rannsókninni er fjallað um innra samhengi milli sameignarsamnings OR, eigendastefnu og heildarstefnu fyrirtækisins og rýnt í hvernig unnið er að framkvæmd eigendastefnunnar í samstæðunni. Helstu niðurstöður eru þær að með sérstöku verklagi við rýni, mótun og eftirfylgni er stuðlað að því að stjórn samstæðunnar hafi nauðsynlega yfirsýn til að sinna stefnutengdu hlutverki sínu í því flókna stjórnskipulagi sem varð til við uppskiptingu fyrirtækisins. Einnig kemur fram að sérstakar aðstæður OR eftir hrunið höfðu áhrif á þróun skipulags og stjórnarhátta.
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