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What steps have businesses taken to embed purpose and multi-stakeholder accountability in their businesses? How might proposed changes to legislation lead to greater stakeholder accountability? What barriers might arise?
“Speaking to a range of corporates about the steps they have taken to embed stakeholder accountability into their business has been a heartening experience. It is clear that these issues are more topical than ever and that businesses are keen to progress the agenda around purpose and stakeholder governance. We heard that true stakeholder engagement cannot be a tick box exercise and has to be something meaningful that enables stakeholders to hold businesses to account.”
Scott Tindall, Partner, Hogan Lovells
HL BaSE has worked alongside the Better Business Act campaign and Business in the Community to try and better understand how the changes proposed by the Better Business Act might affect businesses in the UK. The Better Business Act (BBA) is a campaign to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. These changes would require companies to operate in a manner that benefits their stakeholders, including workers, customers, communities, and the environment, while seeking to deliver profits for shareholders.
Our report outlines how changes to the Companies Act 2006 proposed by the BBA could lead to greater stakeholder accountability for businesses, as well as the barriers to this approach. The report also seeks to understand how, and if, business leaders believe the changes proposed by the BBA campaign could empower UK company directors to lead their organisations in creating a cleaner, greener and fairer future for all. Additionally, this report highlights best practice and explores potential concerns about the changes.
You can read the report, and find out more about stakeholder capitalism, here.