ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at corporations, this definition recognises that corporations can be governed by multiple forms of government policy, by the actions of private actors such as investors, insurers and trading partners and by those of civic actors such as pressure groups, the media or local communities. Many companies have looked to move beyond the benefits that flow from their core business activities to deliver additional socially desirable outcomes; they often use terms such as corporate social responsibility and ‘shared value’ to describe these efforts. The emergence of new forms of governance could also mean that different frameworks duplicate or compete with each other, and some frameworks could displace or undermine others. It seems likely that the emergence of new governance frameworks will have dynamic impacts and that these will determine whether new forms of governance will be a supplement to or a substitute for state action.
