The current financial crisis has deep macroeconomic roots, but the dominant view of the firm has made the crisis deeper and more devastating. Over the past few decades, maximizing shareholder value has become the main objective of the firm. Chief executives have been keen on this objective because their economic incentives have been clearly associated with stock market performance. Unfortunately, this has driven many CEOs to make terrible decisions based on short-termism and greed. In this way, the firm has become the object of anger, criticism and cynicism. In Building Respected Companies, Jordi Canals argues that we must address this problem by developing companies that serve society, not just their shareholders. This requires a new perspective of what a firm is, what the purpose of the firm in society should be and what the role of the board of directors and senior executives should be.

Human Centered Management in Executive Education provides a comprehensive insight on innovation in Executive Education with a unique global scope. The book integrates studies and experiences of 32 distinguished scholars from 15 countries who are working in the development of theories and practices to advance the human centered management paradigm, sustainability-based quality standards and continuous improvement in education. The discussion presents a well-balanced outlook that combines and contrasts research and programs from 16 developed and 16 developing countries, and the visions of 10 female and 22 male authors from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.