Examining the Wates Principles for Large Private Companies As a Social Contract for Business-Society Relations

Abstract

also the corresponding author. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft and all errors and omissions are ours. 1 The Code known as the Wates Principles is the product of deliberations and consultations led by a Coalition Group chaired by James Wates CBE, Group Chairman of the Wates Group, a private family-owned construction and property development company in the UK with an operating income of close to £50m in 2017. 2 Part 8, Schedule 7, Companies Act 2006 amended by the Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018. 3 The collapse of Monarch Airlines in October 2017, the UK's largest ever airline bankruptcy (which led to 2,300 job losses and the stranding of more than 110,000 customers overseas), also contributed to policy concerns surrounding private company governance.

The EU Sustainable Finance Agenda: Developing Governance for Double Materiality in Sustainability Metrics

“…99 Moore (2015). 100 Such as the Wates Principles, critically discussed in Barker and Chiu (2020). 101 Darton (2015); Fornasari (2020).…”