Landscape Report on Shareholder Engagement and Activism Strategies: Lessons from the past, guidance for the future

Whistle Stop Capital | December 2023

Whistle Stop Capital examined case studies and identified eight key tools investors have used to push publicly traded companies to change their practices.

• Coalitions – Coalitions are the first step in building a successful shareholder engagement. 

• Business Case Research – Business case research, and related reports, identify and prioritize concerning actions and provide a legitimizing rationale for investors to become involved in encouraging improved corporate practices.

• Key Indicators Identification – Indicators and benchmarking allow for a simplified explanation of the changes sought, a differentiation of leading and lagging companies, and the tracking of changes over time.

• Screens and Divestment – Screens and divestment strategies encourage investors to disassociate their financing from morally unacceptable products and services. 

• Direct Engagement – Investors, independently or in coalition, have been able to catalyze changed corporate practices by speaking directly with companies. 

• Shareholder Resolutions & Proxy Voting – Shareholder resolutions put pressure on companies to engage constructively in private conversations, or risk the public scrutiny that the resolution process brings.

• Board Campaigns – Board campaigns have been reserved for the most incalcitrant companies. 

Lawsuits – Investor lawsuits have been used when wrongdoing is explicit, or when investors want to ensure that an issue is being carefully managed.