The Sustainable Corporation: How to Secure Value in a Competitive World

Keynote Speakers: Sandrine Blanc (Paris), Katrin Heucher (Groningen), Kenneth Silver (Dublin), Abraham Singer (Chicago) 

Groningen, the Netherlands (in-person only) 

January 22-23, 2026

The aim of the sustainable corporation is robust value creation in the economic and social domain, while maintaining a viable ecology. But hoof acceptance will be sent on November 15th.

The conference is hosted and supported by the Department of Ethics, Social, and Political Philosophy (ESPP), and the Center of Philosow is this possible in a competitive world? The recent political theory of corporate responsibility provides some initial answers, for instance in terms of corporate citizenship, norm-governed productivity, and joint production. Yet, many questions remain.

The members of corporations are commonly taken to cooperate with each other. But in what sense do they do so? Is this strategic cooperation, or does it involve shared intentions or team agency? Furthermore, how can a theory of collective agency accommodate internal conflict, incentivization, coercion, competition, power dynamics, and structural injustices? Finally, can corporations and markets be organized such that robust value creation is compatible with competition in a global market? The aim of this workshop is to address questions such as these. This requires new theorizing about collective agency that is informed by the social sciences.

Submissions: Please submit an anonymized abstract of 400-600 words to Michael Eigner ([email protected]) before November 1st. Notification

phy, Politics, and Economics (PPE); University of Groningen. The research program on sustainable cooperation (SCOOP) and the International Social Ontology Society (ISOS) make this event possible with further financial support. 

Organizers: Boudewijn de Bruin, Fabian Corver, Maddalena Fazzo Cusan, Michael Eigner, Frank Hindriks 

Please direct any questions about the conference to [email protected].