For at least the past 50 years, the focus of shareholders has been on what size return the investee-company can give to its shareholders. Professor Lawrence A. Cunningham’s Quality Shareholders has flipped the question to ask what sort of shareholders a company can cultivate to improve the company’s performance.

Cunningham’s thesis is that “Quality Shareholders” — which he defines as shareholders who buy and hold large stakes for a long time — will, in the long run, significantly improve the financial return to the shareholders.

Read the review of Professor Cunningham’s book here.