While Unilever has retained the basic philosophy of William Lever, albeit modified and modernised, that is not the case with other storied names that are often written about in business history. “Even when virtuous practices have been implemented, they have had relatively short half-lives in most corporations…most executives believe that their shareholders opposed such practices,” concluded James O’Toole in his book The Enlightened Capitalists, though his observations primarily focused on Anglo-American companies.