What is being suggested here is what is called the commonweal approach to business decision-making, which elevates the idea of social responsibility. The corporation serves as a major resource for our society, emphasizing the benefits that accrue to society rather than on the rights and needs of the corporation or its owners.
This view of the corporation is in keeping with my own view of personal responsibility, extending this idea to the faceless corporation. Such a view allows individuals within the corporation to see a clear match between what they do as individuals and what they do as part of a corporation, and this is all to the good.
Stockholders are only one of the stakeholders in a company. The major stakeholders include stockholders, executives, workers, and customers. So long as the company makes a profit and continues to grow, management is serving the needs of the stockholders by giving them a profit. Executives and workers alike are served by this as well because their compensation is tied to the success of the company in some degree. However, a company that demands too much and sees value only in the job is failing its workers and creating a situation...
Stockholders influence a company in several ways, including serving as a sort of conscience by their very existence.
Stockholders can also influence the company more directly by voting on policies at the annual meeting. Some stockholders have more influence than others, of course, based on the fact that they have more stock and can demand more from corporate officers. Stockholders can also influence the company by raising complaints when they see a breach in corporate rules or even the law. Corporate officers heed what stockholders say because they in effect work for those stockholders and have to account for what they do based on the fiduciary duty they owe to stockholders.
Stockholders receive money according to how well the company does and how high the price of the stock goes, giving the stockholder a clear incentive to press for the most effective management and for transparency so stockholders can know what is happening. Stockholders have to b vigilant to avoid the kind of ethical lapses and major losses seen in recent years.
