In theory, the General Shareholders' Meeting (A.G.M.) is the forum in which the company's owners articulate their vision. It is a corporation's supreme and sovereign body, and, as such, it has the power to alter the corporation bylaws and to appoint or remove directors. In practice, however, it is essentially a formality required by law to "rubber-stamp" the decisions of the company's Board. The A.G.M. has turned into a mega-event held in a blaze of publicity; a show. Who or what could breathe new life into the A.G.M.? Joan Enric Ricart of IESE Business School and Jose Luis Álvarez of Instituto de Empresa claim that a new format will need to be found to make the General Shareholders' Meeting an effective governing body with deliberative and decision-making power. In their paper "The Increasing Role Professional Service Firms Play in the Reformation of Shareholders' meetings," they analyze the role of consultants, professional service firms or knowledge intermediaries in articulating the collective action of shareholders.
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