Abstract What is the purpose of a corporation? This fundamental question is as old as corporate law itself, and traditionally it is asked with reference to the ultimate beneficiaries of a corporation’s activities. Modern management theory and the current technology-driven transformation of the economy, however, have breathed new life into the question about corporate purpose. Here, purpose is understood as an animated mission-purpose articulation of the reason for a corporation’s existence; an aspirational idea about its existence that has the capacity to bond internal and external stakeholders to the company, inspiring innovation, productivity, and customer loyalty. This understanding of corporate purpose offers a pathway to a more inclusive and interconnected form of modern capitalism. This approach to purpose is now gaining regulatory traction. In December 2018, the United Kingdom’s “comply or explain” Corporate Governance Code adopted a provision which provides that “the board should establish the company’s purpose.” This Article takes the United Kingdom’s regulatory adoption of mission-purpose as a platform from which we can explore the economic and social benefits of purposeful companies and the legal and non-legal conditions that are necessary to support and nurture such companies. The Article argues that in the absence of purposeful shareholders corporate law must enable companies to construct a zone of insulation which protects its purpose—whatever it may be—from the pressures of immediate shareholder preferences which can compromise mission-purpose. It argues that in jurisdictions where law and market practice prevent the construction of such a zone of insulation, the economic and social benefits of purposeful companies will be unavailable, as mission-purpose disintegrates into the prosaic or a mere marketing device. This claim generates several theoretical and empirical objections, which the Article considers and rejects.

中文翻译：

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公司法的目的性转变

摘要 公司的目的是什么？这个基本问题与公司法本身一样古老，并且传统上是针对公司活动的最终受益人提出的。然而，现代管理理论和当前技术驱动的经济转型为企业宗旨问题注入了新的活力。在这里，目的被理解为对公司存在原因的生动的使命目的表达；一个关于其存在的抱负理念，能够将内部和外部利益相关者与公司联系起来，激发创新、生产力和客户忠诚度。这种对企业宗旨的理解为现代资本主义的更具包容性和相互联系的形式提供了一条途径。这种达到目的的方法现在正受到监管的关注。2018 年 12 月，英国的“不遵守就解释”公司治理守则通过了一项规定，规定“董事会应确立公司的宗旨”。本文以英国对使命宗旨的监管为平台，我们可以从中探讨宗旨公司的经济和社会效益，以及支持和培育此类公司所必需的法律和非法律条件。文章认为，在没有有目的的股东的情况下，公司法必须使公司能够建立一个隔离区，以保护其目的——无论它可能是什么——免受可能损害使命目的的直接股东偏好的压力。它认为，在法律和市场实践阻止建造这种隔离区的司法管辖区，有目的的公司将无法获得经济和社会利益，因为使命目的分解为平淡无奇的或纯粹的营销手段。这种说法产生了一些理论和经验上的反对意见，文章考虑并拒绝了这些反对意见。