Blog

Spring is in the air, baseball has begun here at FCLTGlobal headquarters in Boston, and the public company earnings reporting season is upon us - thus begins that familiar, yet often tedious, quarterly dance done by companies and the analysts that cover them. The quarterly earnings call looms large on most corporate calendars, regularly consuming significant amounts of time to prepare, but are investors and companies making the best use of this venue for regular interaction?

On 28 February, the 2018 Focusing Capital on the Long Term Summit convened more than 150 members and select business leaders in a closed-door event to address the problem of short-term behaviors in capital markets.

Should public companies focus on earning profits for their shareholders, or should they serve broader societal needs? Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock, the largest fund manager in the world, recently issued a letter to company CEOs stating: “Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.”

Another January has come and gone, and another week of discussions at Davos has drawn to a close.

Asset owners often have very long-term investment goals such as funding liabilities, building an endowment for perpetuity or providing for subsequent generations. For some, especially pension and retirement funds, these goals reflect the long-term needs of individual plan members who rely on these institutions to safeguard and build the savings which they will rely on down the road.

At the Kempen Investment Seminar 4 October in London, FCLTGlobal CEO Sarah Williamson was invited to take part in a discussion on the future of investment mandates.

Short-term oriented investment behaviors continue to hamper prospects for substantial, prolonged growth for many firms in the global business community, yet some of today’s leading companies have proven to be shining examples on how to stay focused on the long term through investor relations. Here are a few of our suggested methods for moving away from quarterly-focused guidance, and real-world examples showing how some are already putting this theory into practice:

Over the past few weeks, FCLTGlobal and several of its Members met at forums in both London and Singapore that underscored the rising importance of long-term decision making to managers and investors internationally, and the rapidly growing desire for change.

FCLTGlobal's Sarah Williamson, CEO, and Matthew Leatherman, Director of Research,recently sat down with Ronald O'Hanley to discuss the importance of long-term investing and the role of the board in affecting long-term change.

Over the past year, we have built on the work of the Focusing Capital on the Long Term Initiative to create a fully functional not-for-profit organization with an ambitious research agenda that is well underway. We wanted to take this opportunity to highlight our progress and thank our members for their contributions to this important work.

Matthew Leatherman, Director of Research at FCLTGlobal, speaks to Theresa Whitmarsh about her commitment to longer horizon investing, corporate governance and the importance of being challenged by your board.

Schroders and FCLTGlobal recently hosted a discussion with leaders from across the investment management industry to discuss how to create a better long-term investment environment in Europe.

Profs. Robert Pozen, Suresh Nallareddy, and Shivaram Rajgopal share their thoughts on a recent study examining the UK’s implementation of quarterly reporting requirements for public companies.

FCLT Global Director Matthew Leatherman recently joined the team from the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer where he served as Policy Director. Matthew discusses his reasons for joining FCLT Global and his mission to put top-down economic logic to the test.

FCLT Global Director Ariel Babcock speaks about her motivations for joining the FCLT team and the goals she hopes to accomplish during her tenure.

We spoke to Matthew Brady, a new addition to the FCLT Global team, about his motivations for joining the organization and his thoughts on combating short-termism.

Jonathan Bailey, Director of Research at FCLT Global, speaks to Else Bos about the practical steps asset owners should take to support sustainable long-term value creation.

Earlier this year, together with the McKinsey Global Institute, we co-authored research based on an analysis of 615 large and mid-cap U.S. publicly listed companies, highlighting the benefits to long-termism. This article generated much discussion on the role of long-termism and economic growth from academics, journalists and practitioners alike...

We recently spoke to FCLT Global CEO Sarah Williamson following her attendance at the Asia Business Council 2017 Spring Forum in Vietnam. Read Sarah's reflections on the Forum, the current state of long-termism in emerging markets, lessons learned from family companies in Asia, and the highlights of her trip.

Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T, has joined the FCLT Global Board of Directors, and Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, and Nitin Nohira, Dean of the Harvard Business School, will serve as Strategic Advisors.