The Company Interest in Germany and Poland - A Comparative Legal Analysis in the Context of the European Sustainable Corporate Governance Initiative
The project aims to investigate to what extent company law can function as a vehicle for sustainable economic activity in a German-Polish comparative perspective. Sustainability is an important requirement stemming from both national and European regulatory instruments for shaping the economy and financial markets.
The question of what purpose companies should serve is among the central ones within the doctrine and case-law of corporate law. Questioning the, once dominant, pure shareholder value approach, and taking into consideration the interests of other stakeholders such as employees, creditors and consumers as well as climate and environmental protection are being considered by legislators in different jurisdictions. The project explores these developments and thereby looks beyond the dichotomy of shareholder and stakeholder model. Just considering the two variants is both limited and misleading from the perspective of corporate sustainability.
In Polish and German, as well as of most other EU member states, company law addresses the question of company purpose through the legal concept of the company interest. This core concept of company law needs to be re-evaluated to effectively meet the current ecological, social and economic challenges that arise under the umbrella of sustainability in an international and intergenerational context.
