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First Honors Colloquium lecture to address ‘Corporate Power, Business, and the Common Good’ on Sept. 19

This year’s Honors Colloquium lecture series to feature speakers discussing the use of business tools and thinking to benefit society

Business professor Jerry Davis, a noted author on management, sociology, and finance topics, starts the URI Honors Colloquium Sept. 19, discussing “Corporate Power, Business, and the Common Good?” The series will take place at the Kingston Campus and online.

KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 5, 2023 – Business professor Jerry Davis will kick off the 2023 University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium Tuesday, Sept. 19, with “Corporate Power, Business, and the Common Good?” A noted author on management, sociology, and finance topics, Davis has published six books and dozens of articles on corporations, corporate elites, social movements, inequality and democracy. His latest book is Taming Corporate Power in the 21st Century.

Hosted by the University’s Honors Program, this is the 60th edition of the University’s premier lecture series, and it marks the centennial of the College of Business.

Davis will speak at 7 p.m. at Edwards Hall on the Kingston Campus and online. This is the first lecture in the fall Honors Colloquium, “Not Business As Usual: Business for the Common Good,” which will be presented in person and streamed live (video links will be available on the day of each event, at the link above).

Davis’ research is concerned with the effects of finance on society, changes in the corporate economy, and new forms of organization. In his recent work, he’s examined how ideas about corporate social responsibility have evolved to meet changes in the structures and geographic footprint of multinational corporations; whether “shareholder capitalism” is still a viable model for economic development; how income inequality in an economy is related to corporate size and structure; why theories about organizations do (or do not) progress; how architecture shapes social networks and innovation in organizations; why stock markets spread to some countries and not others; and whether there exist viable organizational alternatives to shareholder-owned corporations in the United States. He serves on the faculty at the University of Michigan and has published widely on management, sociology and finance.

The URI Honors Colloquium is free and open to the public. Lectures will be held most Tuesday evenings, Sept. 19 through Dec. 5 and will also be available online. Learn more about the fall colloquium.