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Stakeholder Theory as a Basis for Capitalism

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Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance

Part of the book series: International Economic Association Series ((IEA))

Abstract

For the past 25 years, a group of scholars has developed the idea that a business has stakeholders - that is, there are groups and individuals who have a stake in the success or failure of the business. There are many different ways to understand this concept, and there is a burgeoning area of academic research in both business and applied ethics on so-called ‘stakeholder theory’. This literature seems to represent an abrupt departure from the usual understanding of business as a vehicle to maximize returns to the owners of capital. This more mainstream view, call it ‘shareholder capitalism’, or ‘the standard account’, has come under much recent criticism, and the ‘stakeholder view’ is often put forward as an alternative.

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Authors
  1. R. Edward Freeman
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  2. Andrew C. Wicks
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  3. Bidhan Parmar
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Trento, Italy

    Lorenzo Sacconi (Professor of Economics and Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, director of EconomEtica) (Professor of Economics and Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, director of EconomEtica)

  2. Inter-university Research Center, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

    Lorenzo Sacconi (Professor of Economics and Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, director of EconomEtica) (Professor of Economics and Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, director of EconomEtica)

  3. Vanderbilt University Law School, USA

    Margaret Blair (Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise) (Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise)

  4. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, USA

    R. Edward Freeman (University Professor and Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration, Academic director of Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, and a senior fellow of Olsson Center for Applied Ethics) (University Professor and Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration, Academic director of Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, and a senior fellow of Olsson Center for Applied Ethics)

  5. Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development, University of Siena, Italy

    Alessandro Vercelli (Professor of Economics) (Professor of Economics)

Copyright information

© 2011 International Economic Association

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Freeman, R.E., Wicks, A.C., Parmar, B. (2011). Stakeholder Theory as a Basis for Capitalism. In: Sacconi, L., Blair, M., Freeman, R.E., Vercelli, A. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance. International Economic Association Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230302112_3

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