Why Do Corporations Exist?

Corporations are the engine of the modern economy, yet public debates are ideologically polarized between two extremes-shareholder value theory and stakeholder theory-and the real workings of corporations and their contributions to society are obscured. This book attempts to break the shackles of these two ideologies. It starts from the 'Two Corporate Axioms' that any reasonably well-informed person should accept, i.e., the dominance of corporations and the existence of market competition. It then derives the 'Eight Corporate Theorems' as logical extensions of the axioms and, based on these theorems, re-examines major issues surrounding corporations, including their purpose and governance. To make this construct more realistic, the book weaves the theorems into the story of an imaginary AI company, starting as a venture company and expanding eventually into a multi-planetary enterprise. This book concludes by offering a vision of the corporation as a long-term community for co-prosperity.

• Publication date: 6 August 2026
• Page count: 114
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781009856546