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Stakeholder capitalism: Difference between revisions
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{{a|devil| | {{a|devil|[[File:Stakeholder.png|450px|thumb|center|A stakeholder yesterday. Well, it was this or a picture of Peter Cushing, folks.]]}}Once upon a time, not terribly long ago, the [[shareholder]] was an opaque yet sacred being, somewhat divine, to whose improving ends everyone engaged in the company’s operation twitched their every fibre. | ||
[[File:Stakeholder.png|450px|thumb|center|A stakeholder yesterday. Well, it was this or a picture of Peter Cushing, folks.]] | |||
}}Once upon a time, not terribly long ago, the [[shareholder]] was an opaque yet sacred being, somewhat divine, to whose improving ends everyone engaged in the company’s operation twitched their every fibre. | |||
This ''[[Shareholder capitalism|will to shareholder return]]'' sprang from the brow of {{author|Adam Smith}} and his [[invisible hand]]: | This ''[[Shareholder capitalism|will to shareholder return]]'' sprang from the brow of {{author|Adam Smith}} and his [[invisible hand]]: | ||
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So before we cast the poor shareholders’ interests to the wind, ask this: if we switch to stakeholder capitalism, ''[[Cui bono|who benefits]] the most''? | So before we cast the poor shareholders’ interests to the wind, ask this: if we switch to stakeholder capitalism, ''[[Cui bono|who benefits]] the most''? | ||
===[[Stakeholder capitalism]] means never having to say you’re sorry=== | ===[[Stakeholder capitalism]] means never having to say you’re sorry=== | ||
Recall that when shareholders hold the whip hand, an executive’s objective is simple. ''Make money''. All that clarity of purpose evaporates the moment | Recall that when shareholders hold the whip hand, an executive’s objective is simple. ''Make money''. All that clarity of purpose evaporates the moment a company expands its remit beyond making ''more'' money for the aligned group who have given ''it'' money. | ||
Multiple stakeholders means multiple interests, and those interests | Multiple stakeholders means multiple interests, and those interests ''must'' [[Conflict of interest|conflict]] with each other. How to arbitrate between ''creditors'' and ''the local community''? Between ''the environment'' and ''customers''? | ||
How do you even know what your stakeholders’ interests — beyond having as much of your soda pop as you can make, as cheap as you can sell it — ''are''?<ref>There is a hand-wavy argument that executives should have in mind the “best interests of the community” and not anyone’s selfish needs and wants. | That is before the key question even presents itself: who ''are'' these stakeholders of whose wellbeing I am suddenly guardian? There is no ranked list. Unlike shareholders whose names and stakes, on any given day, are set out on a register, the constituents, interest groups, factions, priorities, narratives and moral imperatives of “the world at large” are utterly indeterminate. Those quailing at this idea are invited to familiarise themselves with the works of Kant, Mill, Hobbes, Hume, Smith, Rawls, Nietzsche, Nozick, and Marx and return with a concise summary. | ||
To run a company for the world at large is to run it for no-one. | |||
How do you even know what your stakeholders’ interests — beyond having as much of your soda pop as you can make, as cheap as you can sell it — ''are''?<ref>There is a hand-wavy argument that executives should have in mind the “best interests of the community” and not anyone’s selfish needs and wants. But who knows what that is? How does a moral agenda determined by the corporate executive class — mainly white, ageing, cis-gendered, post colonial men, in case it at slipped anyone’s attention — improve on no moral agenda at all? | |||
</ref> | |||
Which interests have priority? Now a failure to generate a decent cash return can be blamed on — well, ''anything'' — your success in reducing the number of smokers in the accounts department, or your community outreach team spent all your excess cash on beautifying a local park, or you chose a buildings manager who was twice the going rate but had a better anti-modern slavery policy. | Which interests have priority? Now a failure to generate a decent cash return can be blamed on — well, ''anything'' — your success in reducing the number of smokers in the accounts department, or your community outreach team spent all your excess cash on beautifying a local park, or you chose a buildings manager who was twice the going rate but had a better anti-modern slavery policy. | ||
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[[Stakeholder capitalism]] means the executive has an excuse. ''Always''. For ''everything''. | [[Stakeholder capitalism]] means the executive has an excuse. ''Always''. For ''everything''. | ||
=== Are corporations well placed to look after everyone else’s interests? === | |||
=====Customers can look after themselves===== | =====Customers can look after themselves===== | ||