?The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the management literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumental power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the managers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institution [with multiple constituents] rather than attorneys for the stockholders.

http://www.faculty.wwu.edu/dunnc3/rprnts.stakeholdertheoryofcorporation.pdf

The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2307%2F3343168.pdf

Development as Freedom

Mother Nature knows best--How engineered organizations of the future will resemble natural-born systems.

Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear. This article tries to clarify the sit- uation, ''mapping the territory'' by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; (3) integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands; and (4) ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society. In practice, each CSR theory presents four dimensions related to profits, political performance, social demands and ethical values. The findings suggest the necessity to develop a new theory on the business and society relationship, which should integrate these four dimensions.

Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory

All these premises having, as I think, been clearly made out, it is impossible that the rulers now on earth should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam's private dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but that of beasts, where the strongest carries it, and so lay a foundation for perpetual disorder and mischief, tumult, sedition and rebellion, (things that the followers of that hypothesis so loudly cry out against) must of necessity find out another rise of government, another original of political power, and another way of designing and knowing the persons that have it, than what Sir Robert Filmer hath taught us.

Two Treatises of Government.

Much has been written about stakeholder analysis as a process by which to introduce ethical values into management decision-making. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions behind this idea, in an effort to understand better the meaning of ethical management decisions.A distinction is made between stakeholder analysis and stakeholder synthesis. The two most natural kinds of stakeholder synthesis are then defined and discussed: strategic and multi-fiduciary. Paradoxically, the former appears to yield business without ethics and the latter appears to yield ethics without business. The paper concludes by suggesting that a third approach to stakeholder thinking needs to be developed, one that avoids the paradox just mentioned and that clarifies for managers (and directors) the legitimate role of ethical considerations in decision-making.So we must think through what management should be accountable for; and how and through whom its accountability can be discharged. The stockholders’ interest, both short- and long-term, is one of the areas. But it is only one.Peter Drucker, 1988Harvard Business Review

Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis

Modern moral philosophy has taken ethical egoism as its principle foil for developing what can fairly be called a humanistic perspective on value and obligation. That is, both Kantian and Humean approaches to ethics tend to view the philosophical challenge as that of providing an epistemological and motivational generalization of an agent’s natural self-interested concern. This chapter discusses four distinctions that must be kept clear needing attention. The first is that between moral rights and moral considerability. A second distinction is that between what might be called a criterion of moral considerability and a criterion of moral significance. The third distinction turns on the difference between questions of intelligibility and questions of normative substance. The fourth is that there is another respect in which the present inquiry involves framework questions rather than questions of application.

On Being Morally Considerable

Opening with Ford Motor Company as a case in point, this essay develops a broad and systematic approach to the field of business ethics After an analysis of the form and content of the concept of responsibility, the author introduces the ‘principle of moral projection’ as a device for relating ethics to corporate policy Pitfalls and objections to this strategy are examined and some practical implications are then explored The essay not only defends a proposition but exhibits a research style and a research program Philosophical ethics and organizational management are joined in the process

The concept of corporate responsibility

Based on the social capital, conflict, and ethics literatures, this study introduces a new concept, the family point of view, and provides theoretical arguments resulting in the following hypothese...

Kenneth E. Goodpaster

Papers

Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis

On Being Morally Considerable

The concept of corporate responsibility

The Family Point of View, Family Social Capital, and Firm Performance An Exploratory Test

Corporations and Morality