Posts in On Value in Exchange
MC17: Natural Vs Unnatural Exchange
MC9 : The Capital Metaphor Problem
MC5: Value in Use is Not Use Value
MC 1 : The Millennia Challenge - What is the Better Use of a Thing
What the crisis of 1543 can teach today’s crisis in capitalism
The deadliest marketing campaign in history
What do turtles and shareholders have in common?
Five Ways To Fix Adam Smith's Big Mistake
The Economist Promotes Shareholder Primacy: It Must Be Spring in the Northern Hemisphere
Duty Before Virtue : The Real Ethical Dilemma Facing Corporate Governance
“I don’t think our duty is to put shareholders first. I say the opposite”.

The Dutchman is convinced that something is rotten:

“Capitalism in its current form is broken... The very essence of capitalism is under threat as business is now seen as a personal wealth accumulator…. if you go back to Adam Smith, his thoughts were that capitalism was intended for the greater good”.

Since Polman's appointment, the Anglo-Dutch company has ended quarterly reporting, refused to pander to analysts, doubled capital spending, increased R&D, reduced the number of hedge funds in its shareholder base by half and, according to its CEO treats people, such as their 75,000 small hold tea farmers, fairly.

Polman’s approach puts him at odds with elite academics like Professor Macey from Yale Law School who teaches that “all major decisions of the corporation, such as compensation policy, new investments, dividend policy, strategic direction and corporate strategy should be made with only the interests of shareholders in mind”.

To his critics, Unilever has an impostor at the helm.  

But this CEO is no phony.    He's more capitalist than any shareholder activist and he's bringing the magic back .

Read More
Stealing From the Devil's Playbook: A Blue Print for Investor Domination
Do Scholars Have a Duty to Maximise Shareholder Value? *
Marketing Shareholder Primacy 4: Play Mind Games
Marketing Shareholder Primacy: 3 - Win Their Hearts
Shareholder Primacy: Paradigm or Groupthink
How Shareholder Value Tied the Invisible Hand : And Why Unilever Wants it Back
Choosing Sides in the Governance Wars*
The Third Way