Includes bibliographical references (p. [254]-260) and index.

Part I. Corporate crisis, leadership and governance: Financial crisism a. leadership crisis? -- Part II. Rethinking the firm's purpose: The firm's mission and purpose; The firm as a respected institution -- Part III. The tole of corporate governance in developing a respected company: Nature, goals and models of corporate governance; A mission-based view of corporate responsibility -- Part IV. Leading and growing a respected company: The board of directors at work: impact beyond regulation; The chief executive: reputation beyond charisma; The CEO's role in developing the firm as an institution.

"The current financial crisis has deep macroeconomic roots, but the dominant view of the firm has made the crisis deeper and more devastating. Over the past few decades, maximizing shareholder value has become the main objective of the firm. Chief executives have been keen on this objective because their economic incentives have been clearly associated with stock market performance. Unfortunately, this has driven many CEOs to make terrible decisions based on short-termism and greed. In this way, the firm has become the object of anger, criticism and cynicism. In Building Respected Companies, Jordi Canals argues that we must address this problem by developing companies that serve society, not just their shareholders. This requires a new perspective of what a firm is, what the purpose of the firm in society should be and what the role of the board of directors and senior executives should be"-- Provided by publisher.