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One contributing factor is the surprisingly recent meme that corporations exist solely for the benefit of their shareholders. It’s a totally ahistoric and obvio

One contributing factor is the surprisingly recent meme that corporations exist solely for the benefit of their shareholders. It’s a totally ahistoric and obviously antisocial meme that gets repeated like it’s gospel, even by otherwise intelligent people. This perspective should be literally laughed at and made fun of as a moral system suitable only for the greediest and most myopic among us.

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
Isn't it an inevitable part of Capitalism though? If the directors of a corporation start acting to not maximise the shareholders profits, they'll soon be replaced or the corporation bought out by more ruthless/sociopathic people.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  The emergence of this idea definitely is guaranteed, but the dominance of it isn’t. There are many countervailing forces that can and should be used, including regulation. One of the forces that I’m advocating for, as I believe it is undervalued and underutilized, is pushback at the cultural level. It is absolutely possible to build truly thriving businesses that include more stakeholders than just shareholders. Costco is a canonical large cap example, but of course there are millions of small businesses who serve their communities much more holistically.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - jl6 3y ago
    What is special about Costco?
- nonameiguess 3y ago
  There are plenty of examples of companies that have stayed in business for a very long time while being focused on something other than maximizing profits, whether that be prestige, quality, treating employees and customers reasonably well, promoting particular values. In N' Out, Hobby Lobby, Costco, Ferrari, A24. Not saying they're paragons of virtue, but they have missions other than "get as rich as possible" and this hasn't driven them to extinction. Presumably, over some long enough span of time, you need to at least not lose money to stay in business, but money doesn't need to be your only objective.
- reducesuffering 3y ago
  You only have to maximize shareholders' profits better than the next best CEO, they have no other option. No one is firing Tim Cook because he made a choice that reduced profits 1%.
cj 3y ago
Interesting article on this topic: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/11/towards-accountable-capitalism-remaking-corporate-law-through-stakeholder-governance/ https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/11/towards-accountab...
- ethanbond 3y ago
  Very interesting indeed! Thank you for sharing.

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago

Isn't it an inevitable part of Capitalism though? If the directors of a corporation start acting to not maximise the shareholders profits, they'll soon be replaced or the corporation bought out by more ruthless/sociopathic people.

ethanbond 3y ago
The emergence of this idea definitely is guaranteed, but the dominance of it isn’t. There are many countervailing forces that can and should be used, including regulation. One of the forces that I’m advocating for, as I believe it is undervalued and underutilized, is pushback at the cultural level. It is absolutely possible to build truly thriving businesses that include more stakeholders than just shareholders. Costco is a canonical large cap example, but of course there are millions of small businesses who serve their communities much more holistically.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jl6 3y ago
  What is special about Costco?
nonameiguess 3y ago
There are plenty of examples of companies that have stayed in business for a very long time while being focused on something other than maximizing profits, whether that be prestige, quality, treating employees and customers reasonably well, promoting particular values. In N' Out, Hobby Lobby, Costco, Ferrari, A24. Not saying they're paragons of virtue, but they have missions other than "get as rich as possible" and this hasn't driven them to extinction. Presumably, over some long enough span of time, you need to at least not lose money to stay in business, but money doesn't need to be your only objective.
reducesuffering 3y ago
You only have to maximize shareholders' profits better than the next best CEO, they have no other option. No one is firing Tim Cook because he made a choice that reduced profits 1%.

cj 3y ago

Interesting article on this topic: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/11/towards-accountable-capitalism-remaking-corporate-law-through-stakeholder-governance/ https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/11/towards-accountab...

ethanbond 3y ago
Very interesting indeed! Thank you for sharing.