In The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century: Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong, John Kay provides a novel perspective on the evolution of the contemporary corporation.

One of the UK’s leading economists, Kay is a fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. He was the first dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and has held chairs at London Business School, the University of Oxford, and the London School of Economics and director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

In his conversation with Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Kay discusses the essence of the modern corporation, the changing relationship of capital and labour, the gap between the our historic concept of the corporation and the current reality and the forces that have and will further shape the corporation including sustainability, geopolitics, and technology.

Key topics discussed: 

[01:56] The essence of a 21st century corporation
[05:53] The changing roles of workers and capital
[12:26] Limits to corporate scale
[16:00] Forces that will shape the future of corporations sustainability, geopolitics, technology
[21:50] The impact of AI on the nature of the corporation
[24:12] Implications for managers

Additional inspirations from John Kay:

• Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers (W.W. Norton & Company, 2020)
• The Long and the Short of It: A guide to finance and investment for normally intelligent people who aren’t in the industry (IPS – Profile Books, 2016)
• Other People’s Money: The Real Business of Finance (PublicAffairs, 2015)
• Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly (Profile Books GB, 2011)