Enterprise Foundations. A Review. Law, Taxation, Governance, and Performance

Abstract

Enterprise foundations are foundations that own companies. While this structure is little known outside Northern Europe, a number of leading global companies, such as Robert Bosch, Rolex, Carlsberg, Hershey, Ikea, the Wallenberg sphere, or the Tata Group, are ultimately owned by foundations. Aside from their economic significance, enterprise foundations have interesting governance characteristics including long-term ownership, the absence of a personal profit motive, and the combination of business and philanthropy. Recently, they have attracted attention as a safeguard for a company purpose. In this paper, we review the limited, but growing, literature on the topic focusing on law, taxation, governance, and performance. We conclude by considering policy implications and avenues for research.

Keywords: enterprise foundations, industrial foundations, economic performance, law, taxation, sustainability, corporate governance

JEL Classification: G32, G34, L21, L33