Maybe this is just PR spin, and maybe it’s a sea change, but even PR spin moving in this direction is an interesting development.
For decades that mantra has been that a corporation’s primary duty, in effect its only duty, was to maximize profits for its shareholders. This has been used to rationalize all kinds of antisocial behavior including mistreatment of workers, environmental hazards, you name it.
The Business Roundtable has issued a statement signed by the heads of 181 of the country’s largest businesses which acknowledges corporate obligations to “stakeholders” instead of just “shareholders”. Stakeholders include employees, customers, suppliers and communities.
While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose,we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders.
And the conclusion:
Each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.
The names on the statement include some companies who are famous as being among the worst bad corporate actors, and it’s going to take a lot more than one barely noticed statement to convince anybody that some of these leopards have really changed their spots. Still, a public statement pulling the rug out from under the “we are just maximizing shareholder value, like we are supposed to”, defense could be an interesting first step.
The LA Times had a nice article about the statement.