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September 18, 2009
Aspen Institute Calls for End of Short-Termism by Business and Investors
by Robert Kropp
In citing benefits to society of long-term business and investment strategies, report incorporates
terms often utilized by socially responsible investors.
SocialFunds.com --
The Aspen Institute, which defines its
missions as fostering "values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals
and ideas that define a good society," created its Corporate Values Strategy Group (CVSG) in 2003,
"to reevaluate business practices leading to malfeasance and short sighted decision-making in
business."
"We started convening people on this shortly after
Enron," said Judith Samuelson, the Executive Director of the Business and Society Program at the
Institute, referring to the energy company whose bankruptcy came on the heels of systemic
accounting fraud.
In 2007, the Institute issued a report entitled Long-Term Value Creation: Guiding Principles for Corporations and Investors,
in which the organization defined what it calls the Aspen Principles. While the language of the
document did not specifically embrace the priorities of the socially responsible investing (SRI)
community, the principles it espoused do align with those of SRI advocates.
To define the
metrics of long-term value creation, for instance, the report called on companies and investors to
de-emphasize short-term metrics and instead use industry best practices "to maximize future value
(even at the expense of lower near-term earnings) and to provide the investment community and other
key stakeholders the information they need to make better decisions about long-term value."
Among the elements that are critical to successful communication between companies and
long-term investors, according to the report, is frequent communication on business strategy and
"outlook for sustainable growth." Finally, the report called for the alignment of compensation
policies with long-term metrics, and included recommendations found in shareowner resolutions that
have been introduced by SRI institutional investors for many years.
This month, the
Institute issued a policy corollary to the Aspen Principles, entitled Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach
to Investment and Business Management, which, according to the Institute, "builds on the CVSG's
ongoing focus on sustainable value for investors and society." As with its earlier report, the
Institute does not specifically embrace the call for greater reliance on environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) considerations in the development of long-term business and investment strategies.
However, through the use throughout the report of such terms as "responsible" and "sustainable", an
alignment of values with those of the SRI community seems at least strongly implied.
Prior
to joining the Institute in 1998, Samuelson directed the social investment fund for the Ford
Foundation, where she oversaw Program-Related Investments for rehabilitation of low-income housing,
revitalization of rundown neighborhoods, and the creation of jobs. As she told SocialFunds.com, "I
came out of social investment. And if you look at the Institute's mission statement, this is why we
do this. We're about global sustainable business leadership."
"Companies are a very
important force in addressing our most important problems," Samuelson said. "Managing from quarter
to quarter does not allow for focusing on the long-term consequences, or the opportunities for
investing appropriately for the things that are critical for a long-term favorable business climate
and a favorable future."
The consequences of short-termism, according to Samuelson,
include "shorting research and development, and participating in inward-focused short-term policies
that do not provide long-term good for society."
Overcoming Short-termism focuses much of
its attention on the role of institutional investors, because, according to the report,
"Encouraging investors and intermediaries representing investors to adopt a long-term perspective
will ultimately encourage and empower boards of directors to adopt long-term strategies for growth
and sustainable earnings." The report provides three key leverage points to counter what it
indentifies as a system-wide failure to adopt long-term considerations.
The first leverage
point, to develop market incentives that encourage "patient capital," aims to discourage the
practice of churning by intermediaries who may be incentivized by such short-term considerations as
commissions on the number of trades they make. The report also suggests the adoption of minimum
holding periods or time-based vesting, in return for the enhancement of shareowner participation
rights.
While the report does not define "patient capital," the term has been adopted by
many in the SRI community to denote long-term investments that take ESG factors into consideration.
The other key leverage points advocated in the report are enhanced fiduciary
responsibilities on the part of financial intermediaries, and greater transparency in investor
disclosures. "Institutional investors now wield substantial power," according to the report. "The
maturation of the institutional investor community creates both opportunity and responsibility� to
pursue investment policies and public policies that empower and encourage business managers and
boards of directors to focus on sustainable value creation."
"The pressures that companies
feel from institutional investors who have short-term horizons are part of this vicious cycle,"
Samuelson observed. "One of the primary leverage points is better disclosure by intermediaries as
to what degree their employees are incentivized to serve the investor well."
"What are the
hallmarks of successful companies?" asked Samuelson. "Market value, business opportunities, the
morale of employees, and their relationships with stakeholders. Getting away from strictly
financial considerations, and getting way past short-term financial metrics."
"Focusing on
short-term share prices is not likely to provide a wide enough lens," Samuelson continued. "When
long-term time frame is considered, it becomes a place where different actors are at the table, and
leads to a different kind of conversation. Time frame is central to all of the ESG pieces. Time
frame brings ESG actors to the table, as well as a wider group of voices."
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