"It was better to deal with the issue in a dialogue, rather than through the proxy process".
These shifts show the positive impact shareholders can have when they are engaged in the proxy process.
"Board unresponsiveness, sometimes tied to corporate governance weaknesses, demonstrates the need for shareholders to have a more meaningful voice in the proxy process," he said at the time.
Ms. Wood said the proxy process had produced gains over the last decade in shareholder voting rights and the election of directors.
In response, the Labor Department declared recently that trustees of a pension fund risk violating their fiduciary duties when they try to "further legislative, regulatory or public policy issues through the proxy process".
The S.E.C. stated that the purpose of this rule was to "benefit shareholders by improving corporate suffrage, the disclosure provided in connection with corporate proxy solicitations and communication between shareholders in the proxy process".
"The proxy process must continue as planned," the Johannesburg-based businessman said.
The argument in favor of the status quo is that boards need to remain insulated from the demands of their more rebellious investors, have the power to block the influence of special interest groups, and keep the proxy process moving.
Once the SPA goes into effect, if you own stock in a company that is spending money in questionable ways, you have the option of either trying to alter those policies through the proxy process or disinvesting.
These interventions, however, do not target neural processing directly but only via proxy-processes such as speech, behavior, and physiological indices (e.g. pulse and skin conductivity).
