In the News
8 February 2017 - Does pressure to deliver short-term earnings undermine the long-term performance of U.S. companies? That’s been a hotly-debated issue in corporate America for a long time. (I remember the day in the 1980s when the late Senator Paul Tsongas visited The Wall Street Journal to inform us he was going to run for president and make eliminating quarterly earnings a key plank in his campaign!) But the debate has gotten hotter in the last decade, with surveys of CEOs suggesting pressure to deliver short-term results is on...
In the News
8 February 2017 - On the day of the first-ever board meeting of FCLT Global, chair Mark Wiseman made the nonprofit’s position clear: “Each and every day that a short-term decision is made, we are destroying value.” Four months later, the group has the data to back Wiseman up. On average, U.S. companies with a long-term focus reported 47 percent higher revenue than other large and midsize businesses from 2001 to 2014, according to a study by McKinsey & Co. expected to be released today. They also showed less volatility...
In the News
7 February 2017 - This has long seemed intuitively true to us. We’ve seen companies such as Unilever, AT&T, and Amazon succeed by sticking resolutely to a long-term view. And yet we have not had the comprehensive data needed to quantify the payoff from managing for the long term — until now. New research, led by a team from McKinsey Global Institute in cooperation with FCLT Global, found that companies that operate with a true long-term mindset have consistently outperformed their industry peers since 2001 across almost every financial measure...
In the News
5 October 2016 - An argument is raging on Wall Street. Some institutional investors are hoping to win it. Over the past year, questions have increasingly been raised over whether corporations are losing sight of the future by obsessing over short-term financial performance. Vice President Joe Biden is even getting involved: In a September 27 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, he called this short-term mindset “one of the greatest threats to America’s enduring prosperity.”
In the News
29 September 2016 - The influential CEO of BlackRock, the asset manager that oversees almost $5 trillion in investments, Fink is known in financial circles for his hectoring letters of instruction to the companies he invests in. His name has also been floated as a possible Treasury secretary in a Clinton administration. In his most recent letter, Fink tackled the problem of short-term thinking in management, and urged companies to take a longer view to enhance value.
In the News
29 September 2016 - Launched as an initiative in 2013, Focusing Capital on the Long Term yesterday (28 September) announced that it has established itself as an independent entity, renamed as FCLT Global. The not-for-profit organisation is dedicated to “developing practical tools and approaches that encourage long-term behaviours in business and investment decision-making”.
In the News
29 September 2016 -
In the News
29 September 2016 - What began as a research project backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and McKinsey & Co. to measure behaviours of investors and businesses in 2013, is now a not-for-profit operation with international members that is focused on research and advocacy. FCLT Global, which takes its name from the “Focusing Capital on the Long Term” research project, wants to extend the thinking among business leaders and investors decades into the future.
Press Release
28 September 2016 - New York, September 28, 2016 – FCLT Global (formerly “Focusing Capital on the Long Term”) announced today its Board of Directors and global membership, marking its transformation from an initiative to an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to encouraging long-termism in business and investment decision-making. In conjunction, FCLTGlobal released a whitepaper, with new data from aMcKinsey Quarterly survey panel, highlighting the challenges and costs that senior business executives world-wide are facing with the rise of short-termism. Key findings include: 87% of executives report feeling the most pressure to demonstrate financial results within two...