The actions taken by shareholders of a corporation to influence the company’s behavior, including changes in its financial or operational strategies, governance practices, or social responsibility policies. This activism can take various forms, including proxy battles, litigation, or public campaigns.
Published in Chapter:
Blockchain-Based Technology in Corporate Governance: A Transformative Approach
Jiaman Xu (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Copyright: © 2024
|Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-1331-2.ch002
Abstract
Blockchain-based technology has been recognized as a potential tool to transform corporate governance. This chapter first discusses the persisting challenges of agency costs, inefficiencies, and the need for improved transparency. It then examines the emergence of blockchain as a potential solution, offering a novel, decentralized approach to corporate governance. The analysis covers the technology's application to share registers, trading, voting, and accounting practices, emphasizing the duality of its promise for increased transparency and emergent privacy concerns. Controversial aspects, such as the threat to existing shareholder activism and the governance of blockchain itself, are critically examined. Solutions like hybrid blockchain models and regulatory nodes are proposed to address these issues. The chapter concludes with a forward-looking perspective on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as an innovative alternative to traditional corporate structures, signifying a new paradigm in corporate governance.