2012 Proxy Season

The annual corporate electoral process – the proxy season for all shareholders of public corporations – is usually a period of intense communication with shareowners for public companies.  Many experts think that the proxy resolution campaigns waged by shareowners signal breakdown or failure of shareowner-corporate communications and [company-stakeholder] engagement.  When constructive engagement fails, shareholder campaigns often follow. 

The weapons in the arsenal of the activist shareowners, especially those with critical issues in focus include the filing of shareowner-sponsored resolutions; public communications and media campaigns; coalition-building with allied investors; invitation of support by third-party issue advocates, and more.

Societal issues of great interest to activist shareowners put a sharp focus on corporate policies, strategies, operations, practices, decision-making as these affect directly and indirectly issues and concerns.  These issues include policies and behavior in global supply chains, human rights, labor rights, diversity, treatment of indigenous peoples, forestry and land management, environmental management, preservation of natural resources, transparency on political contributions, frequency of say-on-pay disclosure, energy conservation, water use and water waste, majority voting, climate change risk, and more. These are the  dimensions of corporate activities very much in focus for shareowners and the asset managers they hire – and will be in the 2012 corporate proxy season.