Increasingly, companies are being challenged by shareholders seeking to influence change and exercise power over corporate activities, practices, and policies. Shareholder activists use their stake in the company to enact campaigns that can contribute to the overall company value or advocate for a social cause. Giving shareholders a voice has proven to increase corporate efficiency and mitigate any practice that can hinder the company from achieving optimal value.

The concept of ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) is an emerging trend among organisations and investors. In Singapore, more investors are now demanding companies to report their sustainability impact, issues, and efforts, alongside financial factors of their annual performance. Hence, this focuses on integrating ESG factors into business operations. Policymakers and regulating authorities are now rolling out requirements and standards with measurable targets and objectives.

During board meetings, the directors set goals and strategies and resolve critical issues that need urgent attention. But in reality, optimizing the organization’s performance doesn’t end during board meetings. What happens outside meetings is equally important as what happens during board meetings. Most of the time, directors need time to ponder before coming up with a sound decision. Moreover, their hectic schedule makes it difficult to monitor action items that need to be accomplished.

For the past years, companies and organizations faced new operational threats and compliance risks, both in their industries and communities. One beneficial strategy to address these matters is through a sustainability lens, or environmental, social, governance (ESG) lens. Businesses and investors have set their eyes on evolving ESG criteria to comply with regulations, and improve their entire operations and performance.

Cloud hosting is becoming the norm due to its efficiency, accessibility, flexibility, and scalability. Not only that, but it also optimizes IT expenses and encourages collaboration. However, with the rise of digitalization comes the surge of cyber attacks. With such threats, business leaders must be attentive to the cloud security of their businesses.

Back then, the only important milestone that mattered to an investor was the steady increase in the company’s profit. However, things began to change, especially when climate change proved to be more than just an imaginary scenario. Affected businesses have experienced lesser profits which have affected their laborers. These non-financial factors have pushed investors to pressure organizations to incorporate ESG into their businesses.

Corporate formalities are essential for every organization’s unique structure. These include fiduciary duties, financial record-keeping, as well as special and scheduled meetings. Speaking of corporate meetings, an annual stockholders’ meeting (ASM) is a statutory requirement for all Philippine corporations. This formality is highly essential, requiring careful planning from the cost considerations to the voting rights navigation.

The onset of the global pandemic has created much uncertainty for many businesses. Member clubs and associations have seen a decline in membership and revenue as operations halted and members cannot meet physically — bringing gloom into their performance. Fortunately, digitalization has transpired before the pandemic, giving birth to virtual meetings and digital collaboration.

Strategic leadership has always been among the top goals of nonprofit organizations. To make that happen, accountability, effectiveness, transparency, and inclusiveness must be implemented and measured. Such factors also play a significant role in forming good governance for nonprofits, from overseeing organizational performance to making policy decisions. When administered properly, nonprofit governance can make remarkable changes for any organization.

The scale of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector in Australia continues to grow. With the global crisis, there is a great opportunity to innovate, rethink, and venture out for the future of the sector. Last December 9, 2021, Convene sponsored a panel discussion about the investment of NFPs in innovation during these times. The session is part of the Governance Institute of Australia‘s (GIA) Not-for-Profit Governance Forum 2021.