Binding Capital to Free Purpose: Steward Ownership in Germany
Abstract
622This paper discusses steward ownership, a concept of business ownership aiming at long-term and purpose-oriented entrepreneurship developed in Germany. Steward ownership can be seen in the context of the current worldwide discussion of corporate purpose and legal innovations like the US-American benefit corporation and the French société a mission has developed a unique approach. The concept is currently put into practice using German company law and the law of foundations. However, in the coalition agreement of the current German government, a new legal form is envisaged to facilitate the founding of steward-owned businesses. The paper presents the concepts and discusses a draft law developed as food for thought for the legislature.
Note
The author is a member of the “Kuratorium”, board, of the Stiftung Verantwortungseigentum e.V. and is a member of the academic working group which has prepared the draft discussed under part V pro bono. Many thanks to Anna Grandori, J. S. Liptrap and Christoph Teichmann for their valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier draft. All mistakes remain my own, of course.623
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- A More Socio-Environmentally Responsive Way to Organise the Firm? A Case Study on Danish Social Enterprise Law
- Loyalty Shares: an International Perspective. A Suitable Instrument to Fight Short-Termism?
- Golden Power and Anti-Takeover Corporate Mechanisms
- Binding Capital to Free Purpose: Steward Ownership in Germany
- A New Start for the European Private Company: The Draft Statute for a “Société Européenne Simplifiée” (SES)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- A More Socio-Environmentally Responsive Way to Organise the Firm? A Case Study on Danish Social Enterprise Law
- Loyalty Shares: an International Perspective. A Suitable Instrument to Fight Short-Termism?
- Golden Power and Anti-Takeover Corporate Mechanisms
- Binding Capital to Free Purpose: Steward Ownership in Germany
- A New Start for the European Private Company: The Draft Statute for a “Société Européenne Simplifiée” (SES)
