Corporate governance is manifestly in crisis: in this lucid and truly important book Colin Mayer explains why. Not only should you read this book, so should governments. Paul Collier, author of 'The Bottom Billion' An impassioned and important plea for a reorientation of values in the modern corporation, offered by one of the world's leading scholars of corporate finance, ownership, and control. Henry Hansmann, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law, Yale Law School Companies and wealth generation, as Professor Colin Mayer argues in his important book, are about co-creation, sharing risk and long-term trust relationships. Will Hutton, The Observer One lesson of the financial crisis is that the corporation which is a purely financial entity is a financial failure. Colin Mayer makes an important contribution to the rethinking of the nature of modern capitalism. John Kay, Chairman, Kay Review of Equity Markets and Long Term Decision Making Modern theory on incentives, ownership and control of large publicly-traded corporations is broken. In Firm Commitment, Colin Mayer makes a huge and thoughtful contribution to fixing the broken theory. I heartily endorse his prescriptions -- values, trustees and time-based shares -- which are at the same time practical and break-through. Anyone interested in the future of democratic capitalism should read this book. Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto Original and provocative, Colin Mayer's ideas on reforming the corporation deserve very serious attention. John Roberts, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of 'The Modern Firm'

Colin Mayer is Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies and former Dean of the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. He has consulted for numerous large firms and for governments, regulators and international agencies around the world. From 1986 to 2010, he was a director of Oxera, building the firm into one of the foremost economics consultancies in Europe.

Preface ; PART 1: HOW THE CORPORATION IS FAILING US ; 1. In the Beginning ; 2. Morals and Markets ; 3. Reputation ; 4. Regulation ; PART 2: WHY IT IS HAPPENING ; 5. Evolving Enterprises ; 6. Bought and Closed ; 7. Capital and Commitment ; PART 3: WHAT WE SHOULD DO ABOUT IT ; 8. Value and Values ; 9. Governance and Government ; 10. Without End ; APPENDIX: REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS