US Edition Paul Polman, who heads the British-Dutch consumer goods group, has urged shareholders to help curb the culture of high risks for short-term returns, in a report released today.
"Unilever has been around for 100-plus years. We want to be around for several hundred more," said Mr Polman, who stopped providing earnings guidance and quarterly profit updates to investors when he took over the company in 2009.
"If you buy into this long-term value-creation model, which is equitable, which is shared, which is sustainable, then come and invest with us," he said. "If you don't buy into this, I respect you as a human being, but don't put your money in our company."
The report, released by Forum for the Future and Friends Provident Foundation, said directors were also to blame for the short-term approach with performance measured by indicators such as quarterly returns, meaning companies are structurally supporting the trend.
When executive pay is linked to this it creates "a perverse incentive for risk-taking" and distracts from activities which will
create long-term value, the report said.
It also warns of the danger of markets which are now dominated by strategies that focus on maximising short-term returns, while underestimating or ignoring the systemic risks, wider impacts or irreversible consequences of this behaviour.
The report claims BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an example of high risk strategies. It proposes companies ensure that board-level incentives reflect innovation, improvements in efficiency and other activities which make the business more sustainable.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced plans for a consultation on tougher requirements for disclosing executive pay and its link to company performance.