在貝萊德集團(BlackRock Group)致企業首席執行官的年度信函中,首席執行官勞倫斯·芬克反駁了外界對“利益相關者資本主義”(stakeholder capitalism)的批評。有評論人士認為,左傾企業的高管利用該戰略在暗地嘗試實現激進的政治議題。
但芬克在信中寫道:“利益相關者資本主義與政治無關。它不是社會或意識形態議題,也不是‘覺醒’。”相反,利益相關者資本主義“是資本主義”,也是企業繁榮的原因之一。
與認為公司應該為股東贏得最大利潤和回報的股東資本主義不同,利益相關者資本主義主張公司不僅為股東利益服務,也為更廣泛的社區服務,包括員工、供應商和客戶。
芬克提到“覺醒的資本主義”,很可能是在示意保守派政治家和評論家。保守派人士對美國企業近期試圖解決氣候變化、種族不平等和投票權問題進行了批判。美國參議員馬爾科·盧比奧于2021年9月在福克斯商業頻道(Fox Business)批評了“管理美國企業的覺醒精英”,美國部分州的立法者則提出要立法禁止國家投資那些采用可持續投資戰略的公司。
但對芬克而言,關注所有利益相關者——而不僅僅是癡迷回報的股東——才是企業盈利的關鍵。他認為,需要保持員工、客戶和供應商的參與感和激勵,才能讓各方利益相關者不斷為股東創造價值,從而確保企業實現長期盈利能力。
這封年度信函由全球最大的資產管理公司發出,而這家公司控制著眾多大型公司的重要股份,因此信的內容有設定議題的作用,也體現了企業領導者最關心的議題。芬克在2020年的信中強調,氣候變化是一種投資風險;在隨后的幾個月里,許多美國公司公布了實現碳中和的計劃。
在今年的信函里,芬克也談到了氣候變化,并再次進行了辯護。
芬克表示貝萊德關注可持續發展,“并不是因為我們是環保主義者,而是因為我們是資本運用者,是客戶的資產管理受托人”。他認為,脫碳化經濟轉型勢不可擋,那些不改變運作的企業都將落后于時代。芬克還在信中提到,貝萊德鼓勵企業分享減排目標,并披露為緩解氣候變化風險所做的努力。
但是,貝萊德不認同從投資組合中完全撤出化石燃料類投資。即便有公司和機構終止了對化石燃料的投資,芬克依然擁護貝萊德在部分石油和天然氣項目所做的投資。活動人士批評貝萊德罔顧凈零排放承諾,仍然在持續投資煤炭、石油和天然氣。
芬克寫道:“撤出投資整個行業,或單純地把碳密集型資產從公共市場轉移到私營市場,并不能實現凈零世界。”他認為,我們需要經歷零碳經濟轉型的“漸變過程”——暫時仍然需要傳統化石燃料為世界各地發電和供暖。
2021年12月,貝萊德帶領一群投資者拿下了49%的沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)的天然氣管道網絡股份。芬克在當時表示,在凈零經濟轉型過程中,“負責任地管理天然氣基礎設施將發揮重要作用”。
芬克并沒有完全放棄這些公司,而是將其視為尋求碳排放轉型的“具有前瞻視野的”企業——或許更重要的是,這是一個“重要的投資機會”。
除了氣候變化,芬克在今年的信函中還特意提到了一個相對較新的現象:創下離職人數新紀錄的“大離職潮”(Great Resignation)。
芬克在信中寫道:“新冠疫情為雇主和雇員關系所帶來的變化,比任何其他關系的轉變更大。” 他認為,員工對雇主有更多的要求是“資本主義有效運轉的一個基本特征”,最終會創造更繁榮的經濟和更大的股東回報。他還認為,“未能調整至這一新模式并且未能回應員工要求的企業將要承擔后果。”
關于回歸辦公室的問題,芬克的看法則比華爾街同行更為溫和。摩根大通的(JPMorgan)首席執行官杰米·戴蒙認為遠程辦公對“那些想要打拼的人”來并非好事,高盛集團(Goldman Sachs)的首席執行官蘇德巍(David Solomon)稱居家辦公是“反常現象”,他打算“盡快糾正”。
相比之下,芬克認為新冠疫情讓首席執行官們正在面對一個“與過往截然不同的工作模式”,包括不再預期員工“每周到辦公室工作五天”。
隨著德爾塔和奧密克戎變異毒株疫情相繼爆發,華爾街的大型公司已經推遲了讓員工回到辦公室工作的計劃,貝萊德的政策是希望員工每周到辦公室工作三天。(財富中文網)
譯者:Emily
在貝萊德集團(BlackRock Group)致企業首席執行官的年度信函中,首席執行官勞倫斯·芬克反駁了外界對“利益相關者資本主義”(stakeholder capitalism)的批評。有評論人士認為,左傾企業的高管利用該戰略在暗地嘗試實現激進的政治議題。
但芬克在信中寫道:“利益相關者資本主義與政治無關。它不是社會或意識形態議題,也不是‘覺醒’。”相反,利益相關者資本主義“是資本主義”,也是企業繁榮的原因之一。
與認為公司應該為股東贏得最大利潤和回報的股東資本主義不同,利益相關者資本主義主張公司不僅為股東利益服務,也為更廣泛的社區服務,包括員工、供應商和客戶。
芬克提到“覺醒的資本主義”,很可能是在示意保守派政治家和評論家。保守派人士對美國企業近期試圖解決氣候變化、種族不平等和投票權問題進行了批判。美國參議員馬爾科·盧比奧于2021年9月在福克斯商業頻道(Fox Business)批評了“管理美國企業的覺醒精英”,美國部分州的立法者則提出要立法禁止國家投資那些采用可持續投資戰略的公司。
但對芬克而言,關注所有利益相關者——而不僅僅是癡迷回報的股東——才是企業盈利的關鍵。他認為,需要保持員工、客戶和供應商的參與感和激勵,才能讓各方利益相關者不斷為股東創造價值,從而確保企業實現長期盈利能力。
這封年度信函由全球最大的資產管理公司發出,而這家公司控制著眾多大型公司的重要股份,因此信的內容有設定議題的作用,也體現了企業領導者最關心的議題。芬克在2020年的信中強調,氣候變化是一種投資風險;在隨后的幾個月里,許多美國公司公布了實現碳中和的計劃。
在今年的信函里,芬克也談到了氣候變化,并再次進行了辯護。
芬克表示貝萊德關注可持續發展,“并不是因為我們是環保主義者,而是因為我們是資本運用者,是客戶的資產管理受托人”。他認為,脫碳化經濟轉型勢不可擋,那些不改變運作的企業都將落后于時代。芬克還在信中提到,貝萊德鼓勵企業分享減排目標,并披露為緩解氣候變化風險所做的努力。
但是,貝萊德不認同從投資組合中完全撤出化石燃料類投資。即便有公司和機構終止了對化石燃料的投資,芬克依然擁護貝萊德在部分石油和天然氣項目所做的投資。活動人士批評貝萊德罔顧凈零排放承諾,仍然在持續投資煤炭、石油和天然氣。
芬克寫道:“撤出投資整個行業,或單純地把碳密集型資產從公共市場轉移到私營市場,并不能實現凈零世界。”他認為,我們需要經歷零碳經濟轉型的“漸變過程”——暫時仍然需要傳統化石燃料為世界各地發電和供暖。
2021年12月,貝萊德帶領一群投資者拿下了49%的沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)的天然氣管道網絡股份。芬克在當時表示,在凈零經濟轉型過程中,“負責任地管理天然氣基礎設施將發揮重要作用”。
芬克并沒有完全放棄這些公司,而是將其視為尋求碳排放轉型的“具有前瞻視野的”企業——或許更重要的是,這是一個“重要的投資機會”。
除了氣候變化,芬克在今年的信函中還特意提到了一個相對較新的現象:創下離職人數新紀錄的“大離職潮”(Great Resignation)。
芬克在信中寫道:“新冠疫情為雇主和雇員關系所帶來的變化,比任何其他關系的轉變更大。” 他認為,員工對雇主有更多的要求是“資本主義有效運轉的一個基本特征”,最終會創造更繁榮的經濟和更大的股東回報。他還認為,“未能調整至這一新模式并且未能回應員工要求的企業將要承擔后果。”
關于回歸辦公室的問題,芬克的看法則比華爾街同行更為溫和。摩根大通的(JPMorgan)首席執行官杰米·戴蒙認為遠程辦公對“那些想要打拼的人”來并非好事,高盛集團(Goldman Sachs)的首席執行官蘇德巍(David Solomon)稱居家辦公是“反常現象”,他打算“盡快糾正”。
相比之下,芬克認為新冠疫情讓首席執行官們正在面對一個“與過往截然不同的工作模式”,包括不再預期員工“每周到辦公室工作五天”。
隨著德爾塔和奧密克戎變異毒株疫情相繼爆發,華爾街的大型公司已經推遲了讓員工回到辦公室工作的計劃,貝萊德的政策是希望員工每周到辦公室工作三天。(財富中文網)
譯者:Emily
BlackRock chief executive Laurence Fink has used his annual letter to CEOs to defend stakeholder capitalism against critics who say the strategy is a veiled attempt by left-leaning business executives to fulfill a progressive political agenda.
"Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics. It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not ‘woke’,” he wrote. Instead, stakeholder capitalism "is capitalism," and a reason why businesses prosper.
Stakeholder capitalism argues that the purpose of companies is to serve the interests of not just shareholders, but the broader community, including employees, suppliers and customers. It's a contrast to shareholder capitalism, or the idea that a company's main purpose is to maximize profits and returns to shareholders.
Fink's reference to "woke capitalism" is likely a nod to conservative politicians and commentators, who have attacked corporate America's recent attempts to grapple with climate change, racial inequality and voting rights. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio criticized "the woke elites running corporate America" on Fox Business in September, and some U.S. state lawmakers have proposed legislation that would bar state investments in companies that use sustainable investment strategies.
But for Fink, paying attention to all stakeholders—not just returns-obsessed shareholders—is key to how a business makes money. Keeping employees, customers and suppliers engaged and inspired, says Fink, is necessary to ensure those parities keep delivering profits to shareholders—and thus ensure long-term business profitability.
Coming from the world’s largest asset manager—which controls significant stakes many of the biggest companies—Fink's annual letter is an agenda-setting exercise that signals what's top-of-mind for corporate leaders. Fink’s 2020 letter highlighted climate change as an investment risk; in the months that followed, many U.S. firms announced plans to become carbon-neutral.
Fink's letter this year touched on climate change, too, and again, Fink played defense.
According to Fink, BlackRock cares about sustainability “not because we’re environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients.” The shift to a decarbonized economy is inevitable, Fink says, and businesses that don't change their operations will be left behind. In his letter, Fink shared that BlackRock would ask companies to share targets for emissions reductions, and disclose their efforts to mitigate risk from climate change.
But BlackRock won't go as far as to cut out fossil fuels from its portfolio entirely. Fink defended BlackRock’s ongoing investment in some oil and gas projects even as other companies and organizations end their exposure to fossil fuels. Activists have criticized BlackRock's continued investment in coal, oil, and gas in spite of its stated commitment to the net-zero transition.
“[D]ivesting from entire sectors—or simply passing carbon-intensive assets from public markets to private markets—will not get the world to net zero,” he wrote. The transition would require moving through "shades of brown"—interim steps that would still require traditional fossil fuels to produce electricity and heat around the world.
In December 2021, BlackRock led a group of investors that took a 49% stake in Saudi Aramco’s network of natural gas pipelines. At the time, Fink said that “responsibly managed natural gas infrastructure has a meaningful role to play” in the transition to a net-zero economy.
Rather than abandon such companies entirely, Fink sees them as "foresighted" partners in the fight against carbon emissions—and, perhaps more importantly, a "vital investment opportunity".
In addition to climate change, Fink devoted space in this year's letter to a relatively new phenomenon: the Great Resignation, or the record number of workers quitting their jobs.
In his letter, Fink writes that “no relationship has been changed more by the pandemic than the one between employers and employees.” Greater demands on employers are “an essential feature of effective capitalism,” says Fink, ultimately creating a more prosperous economy and greater shareholder profits. He continues that “companies not adjusting to this new reality and responding to their workers do so at their own peril.”
Fink’s view on returning to the office is more moderate than some of his peers on Wall Street. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon said that remote work wasn’t good “for those who want to hustle” while Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon called working from home an “aberration” that he intended “to correct as quickly as possible.”
In contrast, Fink says the pandemic presents CEOs with a “profoundly different paradigm,” including the end of an expectation that workers would “come into the office five days a week.”
With the successive outbreaks of the Delta and Omicron COVID-19 variants, major firms on Wall Street—including BlackRock, which had a policy of expecting workers to come into the office three days a week—have delayed plans to bring their employees back to the office.