The Corporation in the 21st Century
The Corporation in the 21st Century by John Kay is one of 2026's most credible books, appearing on 1 of the year's most respected lists, including The Economist, for a Consensus Score of 18 out of 100.
Appears on these lists
Our take
AI-draftedKay, a longtime economist and columnist, mounts a sustained argument against the shareholder-value doctrine that has dominated corporate governance for forty years, contending that treating share price maximization as a company's sole purpose has actually undermined the long-run health of the firms that adopted it. His case rests on close reading of how modern companies like Apple or Meta actually generate value — through people, ideas, and reputation rather than owned physical assets.
In the press
“Kay demolishes the 40-year shareholder-value orthodoxy... maximising short-term financial targets may enrich a small class of executives, but it causes a slow self-euthanasia of the corporation over decades.”
Hans Despain, LSE Review of Books
How the Consensus Score is calculated
Our Consensus Score is our own transparent editorial metric — not a user rating. It weighs each list by the credibility of its source, how recent the listing is, and any award status. Here is the full breakdown.
| Source | Authority | Recency | Award | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Economist | 0.95 | 0.85 | 1.00× | 0.81 |
| Weighted sum → Score | 0.81 → 18 | |||
Similar consensus books
Because they appear on some of the same lists.
Frequently asked
What lists is The Corporation in the 21st Century on?
The Corporation in the 21st Century appears on 1 list in our 2026 corpus, including The Economist.
What is its Consensus Score?
The Corporation in the 21st Century has a Consensus Score of 18 out of 100, our transparent editorial measure of how many credible lists agree on it.