Shareholder Activism and Corporate Social Responsibility

The presentation focuses on the role of shareholder activism in promoting the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). One of the most debated topic in current corporate law is how institutional investors can use their fiduciary duties in the corporation, particularly the values or otherwise of the changes brought about by activist shareholders. The presentation deals with the "capable and incentives problems" and enlighten the subset of activist interventions. It is pointed out that the ESG investing better performs with the standard business model of index tracking and stock picking funds, whilst the goals of activist hedge funds are short-term. Although some scholars argue that there is no empirical evidence of this common-shared view, either the self-regulation or the European Union do not rely to hedge funds.