Edmans named Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School (LBS), is one of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise’s Distinguished Fellows for 2022.

The annual appointment is made each year to scholars committed to furthering the Kenan Institute’s efforts to study and advocate for solutions to today’s business and economic challenges.

This year’s five Distinguished Fellows will support the think tank’s “exploration of ESG investing and the rise of stakeholder capitalism – and whether the model could be set to replace shareholder primacy,” it said.

As part of his appointment, Professor Edmans presented on ‘The Power of Purposeful Business’ for the institute earlier this month.

“Often people think, ‘the business case for purpose is to avoid a scandal – it’s about good risk management”.

“But if that is the case, companies should do just do the minimum possible to avoid a scandal. There is no need to go above and beyond."

“What I would like to stress is how purpose is about … actively creating value, doing things that you never needed to do, like creating (Vodafone’s) M-Pesa. But you do them anyway because it’s good for society but also, fundamentally, it is good for business.”