Resources
We conduct original research on the causes of short-term business decisions and work to find practical solutions.
Policy | Article, Press Release
19 August 2019 - FCLTGlobal commends the Business Roundtable and all 181 CEOs that have signed on to today’s Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation. Research shows that creating long-term value is a critical part of a chief executive’s role, for a company’s shareholders but also for the many other stakeholders in its investment value chain – employees, customers, or the community in which it operates. It is important to clarify this responsibility, especially in a rapidly evolving global economy where businesses are looking for new ways to...
Policy | Article
25 July 2019 - On 18 July, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance held a public roundtable to hear from investors and other market participants about the impact of short-termism on capital markets and whether its reporting system, or other aspects of its regulations, should change to address these concerns. View the full webcast of the roundtable here The first panel of the afternoon addressed the root causes and impact of a short-term focus on capital markets, and sought to help the SEC identify potential market practices and...
Strategy | Article
9 July 2019 - On 30 May, FCLTGlobal Members and guests met in Boston for a peer-to-peer discussion on managing risk to support long-term value creation. The Forum on Risk: A Balancing Act provided a venue for participants to exchange examples of multi-horizon risk management, including successes in practical applications and challenges with implementation.
Article
4 June 2019 - The expertise and rich experience of FCLTGlobal’s researchers is part of what makes our work unique and incisive. A prime example is Senior Research Fellow Bruce Shaw, the former CFO of Holly Corporation (later President of Holly Energy Partners) who is working on a study of long-term thinking among CFOs and assembling a checklist CFOs can use to ensure they stay focused on long-term success. Our Director of Research Communications, Evan Horowitz, sat down with Bruce to talk about his work and life. Hi Bruce. Thanks for much...
Governance | Article
28 May 2019 - Building a long-term culture requires a clear and active commitment from a company’s leadership, as they have the unique stature to establish long-term strategies and support long-term initiatives throughout the organization. Long-term Habits of a Highly Effective Corporate Board, FCLTGlobal’s latest research on how corporate board’s impact company performance, identifies several established practices boards can employ in order to develop and eventually realize a farsighted strategic plan. These include: spending more time on strategy (regulatory and compliance-related tasks often consume significant board attention); holding company stock...
Article
23 May 2019 - The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the largest professional investor relations association in the world, earlier this month announced the inaugural class of its “40 Under 40” recognition program. The 40 Under 40 Program recognizes those who “have made noticeable contributions to their companies, communities, the IR profession, and to NIRI”. Included in the list of talented young IR professionals is FCLTGlobal’s Ariel Fromer Babcock, a Research Director whose work has identified investor relations strategies that can promote long-term value creation for both companies and the shareholders who invest...
Strategy | Article
10 May 2019 - Boards and executives of long-term funds, such as pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and endowments, need to manage portfolios to meet their long-term purpose, which may be decades or more into the future. In Balancing Act: Managing Risk Across Multiple Time Horizons, FCLTGlobal describes how laying out the goals and parameters of a fund can lead to a deeper understanding of the fund’s needs and provide greater conviction to maintain a long-term outlook in the face of market stress. Denmark’s largest pension and social security provider, ATP, takes as its...
Investor-Corporate Engagement | Article
11 April 2019 - When considering going public, private companies often express concern about the perceived short-term fixation of public markets. In response, some choose to stay out of the public markets – to the detriment of our overall economic health. But other companies address this concern by issuing multiple classes of shares, each with different voting rights. Common practice is to assign more voting rights to one class of stock than the other, with the superior voting rights going to founders or other insiders. Issuing companies say that they take...
Investor-Corporate Engagement, Policy | Article
5 April 2019 - Research has consistently found that the vast majority of corporate executives think that short-term pressure is changing their business decisions and harming long-term value. Recent work from FCLTGlobal has shown that an effective way to combat this phenomenon is by moving away from quarterly guidance. After calls from the White House and American business leaders in the latter half of 2018 to reexamine the standards for corporate guidance and reporting in American business, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has requested public comment on how to enhance the investor protection attributes of periodic disclosures...
Policy | Article
3 April 2019 - The global focus on responsible business practices has blossomed over the past decade. With that growth has come a greater awareness of concepts such as corporate governance, ESG integration, financial transparency, and fiduciary duty. Stewardship codes have become a tool to formalize the roles and obligations of corporations and investors alike. Administered by a variety of governmental agencies or independent regulators, stewardship codes now exist in over 20 countries worldwide, as well as in international associations like the OECD and ICGN. The United Kingdom was the...
Strategy | Article
1 April 2019 - Long-term funds need to manage their portfolios to meet their long- and near-term expectations simultaneously. This challenge demands assessing risks and opportunities across multiple time horizons. However, board members and staff often use different language to communicate, especially when it comes to investment risk. This disconnect can often lead to a lack of understanding of the most important risk issues facing a fund. Purposeful questions can bridge this divide, and focusing on the right strategic points can spur constructive conversations between the fund’s board and its...
Governance | Article
19 March 2019 - A chapter in the upcoming new edition of The Handbook on Board Governance focuses on the strategic benefits of long-term oriented boards, co-authored by FCLTGlobal’s Ariel Babcock and Sarah K. Williamson, and Dr. Robert Eccles (Said Business School). A well-functioning corporate board of directors wields the power to meaningfully influence the purpose, culture, and direction of an organization. This is often among a company’s greatest untapped strategic assets. While many boards of directors may display sound corporate governance principles, the most effective boards at leading companies for long-term value creation...