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Business and Society Program
Corporate Values Strategy Group
The Aspen Corporate Values Strategy Group (CVSG) is focused on ensuring that corporate and investment practice better supports the long-term health of society. Short-term pressures in today's capital markets restrict the ability of business to do what it does best—create quality goods and services, invest in innovation, and develop human capital. Rebalancing the short-term/long-term focus of business will make it possible to bring a wider view to the role of business, one that encompasses both fiscal and societal well-being.
What is CVSG?
CVSG is a unique business-labor-investor coalition dedicated to ensuring the long-term health of society through business practice and policy that create and reward long-term value.
Program strategies include:
Convenings and dialogues. Bringing together senior business leaders, investors, corporate governance experts, labor leaders, and academics to discuss strategies for promoting change in business practice, investment practice and policy in support of long-term competitiveness.
Drafting of and outreach related to the Aspen Principles (Long-Term Value Creation: Guiding Principles for Corporations and Investors, released June 2007) and the policy corollary to the Principles, released September 2009, “Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management.”
CVSG in 2011
A Brief History of the CVSG
CVSG Supporters
Master Participant List (2003-present)
Recent CVSG Events
Academic-Practitioner Roundtable on The Purpose of the Firm
Left to right: Professors Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA Law), Henry Hansmann (Yale School of Law) and Roger Martin (Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto) discussed the role "shareholder value" should play in corporate decision making. Professor Lynn Stout of UCLA Law (not shown) moderated the panel for an audience of 125 business and law students from UCLA.
On September 29-30, 2011, a group of 43 business professors, legal scholars and executives convened for a dialogue about the purpose of the firm and the role of "shareholder value" in corporate governance and evaluation of firm performance. Facilitated and hosted by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program (Aspen BSP) and Professor Lynn Stout of the UCLA School of Law, roundtable discussions addressed key questions that have profound consequences for both corporations and the long-term health of society. You can view the roundtable synopsis and participant list here.
2011 CVSG Summit
On July 11-12, 2011, a group of 22 senior executives, asset managers, and other interested participants came together for a dialogue about the role of business in society and how to best combat market short-termism. The summit, facilitated and hosted by the CVSG of the Aspen BSP, built on an ongoing dialogue and body of work about the role of business and society. This summit continued on the work that the CVSG has facilitated since 2003. A reflective summary from the summit is available, and so too is the list of participants.
On January 19, 2011, the CVSG along with the Committee for Economics Development (CED) and the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance at Yale SOM convened a small roundtable of academics and practitioners focused on research questions related to the role of institutional investors in the current corporate governance context. In September 2011, a paper will be published by CED and the Millstein Center identifying a future research agenda.
“How do you measure success?” was the theme for Aspen in New York's Business and Society Forum 2010, hosted by the Aspen BSP in partnership with Bloomberg Television and the Stern School of Business, NYU and sponsored by Accenture. A day-and-a-half of public conversation explored the measures of business health, societal progress and the big questions that link the two. The Forum featured one-on-one interviews and dialogue among leaders of business, government and society on October 26 and 27.
In June 2010, the CVSG hosted an off-the-record dialogue,"Strategies of Purpose-Driven Firms," in Aspen, CO. For one perspective from the Summit, check out this blog entry from a participant.
CVSG Resources for Further Information:
- Read the Compelling Case for Change, a document prepared by the Business and Society Program to address short-termism in U.S. capital markets.
- On May 12, 2009, Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, cited Executive Director Judith Samuelson and the work of the CVSG in her speech to the Economic Club of Washington. Please click here for a PDF of the transcript, or visit the website's archive of recent speakers to view the video. On April 14, 2010, Indra Nooyi gave a speech about long-term value creation to the Economic Club of Chicago.
- For more information on our work in changing business and investor practice, you may wish to view the Aspen Principles. For more information on our work in helping to create a more enabling environment, check out our policy work.
- Read what other people have been saying about the CVSG on our Press Page, or where we've shared our thoughts on the Publications Page.
To become a member of the CVSG, please contact Rebecca.Darr[at]aspeninstitute.org.