Innovation in Times of Global Pandemic and the Debate on the Company Purpose

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic produced an extensive array of creative responses to confront the adverse results of the crisis. Many companies worldwide were required to adopt innovative thinking by altering their business activities and revising their entire supply chain. This article is devoted to exploring the implications of this fundamental change on central theoretical assumptions of corporate governance by focusing on the company purpose debate. It advocates a novel contingent interpretation for formulating a purpose that acknowledges the dynamic nature of business needs and incorporates the life-cycle and the industry aspects for generating value for the company as an independent and separate legal entity.