Aditya Chakrabortty’s scathing account of Royal Mail’s decline is accurate and justified (So this is how the Royal Mail ends: killed by lying politicians, lousy managers and ruthless moneymen, 1 February). A major contributor to the company’s demise is the corporate governance framework within which it operated: a group structure with diversified and disengaged shareholders, a dominant boardroom presiding over an ineffective remuneration committee, and stakeholder engagement that failed to take account of the competing interests of different constituent groups, with little regard for the impact of the demands made of employees.
Sadly, the UK appears to take pride in its liberal regulatory corporate governance framework, which ensures that shareholder value is the guiding force. This has resulted in a board that has destroyed trust, a shareholder body content to accept financial returns without holding the board to account for fundamental failings, and a workforce that has been treated with contempt.
Prof Charlotte Villiers
University of Bristol Law School
