United States Corporate Governance 4.0: Future Proofing After COVID

In the post-COVID-19 environment, successful companies demonstrated resilience by developing their corporate governance approaches to adjust to the current environment. These companies considered the immediate advantages of ensuring a balance between focusing on increasing shareholder value and simultaneously addressing the legal, economic, and social risks following the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the business landscapes of corporate law, transparency, and accountability. The global crisis presented an unprecedented challenge that captured the global economy and multinational companies unprepared. Exposing significant vulnerabilities in company operations, global supply chains, and the path to economic recovery, the pandemic has revived the debate on corporations and other objectives. This debate includes the commonly unenforced notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its role in management’s decision-making for long-term value and marketplace resilience. Although often viewed as independent ideologies, corporate governance and CSR share interdependencies that enable corporations to operate under a shared responsibility model with the government, customers, suppliers, and global communities. Overcoming COVID-19’s ongoing challenges requires a holistic strategy that addresses environmental, economic, and social issues. This chapter contributes to this debate by examining the role of corporate governance in future proofing companies post-COVID through initiative-taking and forward-thinking decision-making. Corporate governance is evaluated as a framework for effective management and strategic planning by working within the systems, rules, and processes that define corporate operations. Similarly, with increased social and economic expectations from the public, government, and other key stakeholders following the pandemic, CSR has become a required and essential dimension of the corporate governance framework. CSR and corporate governance appear inextricably linked to addressing concerns at the center of the debate on corporate purpose and objectives and helping companies demonstrate their resilience and preparation to manage risks and adapt to the ‘new normal’ (Zhao and Wen in Stan J Int 63, 2002).