Grow the Pie
How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit – Updated and Revised

Companies can both serve society and create profit. This book shows how—based on rigorous evidence and an actionable framework.

Alex Edmans (Author)

9781009054676, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 November 2021

450 pages, 19 b/w illus. 1 table
19.6 x 12.8 x 2.9 cm, 0.57 kg

'Alex Edmans provides robust evidence against the claim that businesses must choose between shareholder value and social responsibility. Although there are trade-offs, there is no single trade-off. What is good for shareholders can be good for society: evidence matters.' Baroness Onora O'Neill, University of Cambridge

A Financial Times Book of the Year 2020! Should companies be run for profit or purpose? In this ground-breaking book, acclaimed finance professor and TED speaker Alex Edmans shows it's not an either-or choice. Drawing from real-life examples spanning industries and countries, Edmans demonstrates that purpose-driven businesses are consistently more successful in the long-term. But a purposeful company must navigate difficult trade-offs and take tough decisions. Edmans provides a roadmap for company leaders to put purpose into practice, and overcome the hurdles that hold many back. He explains how investors can discern which companies are truly purposeful and how to engage with them to unleash value for both shareholders and society. And he highlights the role that citizens can play in reshaping business to improve our world. This edition has been thoroughly updated to include the pandemic, the latest research, and new insights on how to make purpose a reality.

Introduction
How to read this book
Part I. Why Grow the Pie? Introducing the Idea: 1. The pie-growing mentality: a new approach to business that works for both investors and society
2. Growing the pie doesn't aim to maximise profits – but often does: freeing a company to take more investments, ultimately driving its success: 3. Growing the pie doesn't mean growing the enterprise: three principles to guide trade-offs and which projects to turn down
4. Does pieconomics work?: data – not wishful thinking – shows that companies can both do good and do well
Part II. What Grows the Pie? Exploring the Evidence: 5. Incentives: rewarding long-term value creation while deterring short-term gaming
6. Stewardship: the value of engaged investors that both support and challenge management
7. Repurchases: investing with restraint, releasing resources to create value elsewhere in society
Part III. How to Grow the Pie? Putting it into practice: 8. Enterprises: the power of purpose and how to make it real
9. Investors: turning stewardship from a policy into a practice
10. Citizens: how individuals can act and shape business, rather than be acted upon
Part IV. The Bigger Picture: 11. Growing the pie more widely: win-win thinking at the national and personal levels
Conclusion
Action items
Appendix
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Index.

Subject Areas: Corporate governance [KJR], Business ethics & social responsibility [KJG], Business & management [KJ], Investment & securities [KFFM], Finance [KFF]