Corporate purposes and the law
本文探讨企业目的在法律中的作用，指出忽视法律的讨论在后果和概念上都不精确，包含三篇基于EURAM 2023研讨会的文章，涉及跨学科反思、法律框架梳理及法国使命公司改革。
The European Management Review is pleased to host this Dialogue on an important theme, gaining increasing attention in the academic debate on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the policy initiatives of European institutions. The theme is the role of “purposes” in driving the conduct of enterprises. This Dialogue develops and articulates the argument that a debate on purposes not considering the role of law is destined to remain weak in consequences and imprecise in conceptualization. The Dialogue comprises three pieces centered, in different ways, on that role. The pieces are developments of some of the presentations offered by the authors at a EURAM 2023 Symposium, of which EMR invited submission, for potential transformation in short articles to compose a Dialogue. The contribution by Colin Mayer offers a set of broad interdisciplinary reflections on corporate purposes, in the context of contemporary challenges, in relation to economic theory and practice, to the evolving corporate law, and to performance and policy implications. Livia Ventura mobilizes her juridical background for offering a much needed map for orienting in the complicated territory of emerging legal provisions; especially with reference to Europe, but including many comparative law observations with respect to the United Kingdom and the United States. The analysis by Blanche Segrestin and Kevin Levillain reflects and draw general lessons and implications from an important European experience: the French reform instituting the form of société à mission, that the author themselves contributed in promoting. Those implications include how those developments in the law can suggest broadening and renewing the conceptualization of the role of management. Thanking the authors for having considered EMR as a possible outlet, we hope the Dialogue can contribute useful inputs for strengthening the discussion on purposes in management, as well as for illuminating public policy regulation, in Europe and elsewhere. Anna Grandori Editor-in-Chief, European Management Review