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"Then, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][during the period of America's greatest growth][/FONT] most CEOs assumed they were responsible for all their stakeholders."
The Rebirth of Stakeholder Capitalism?
Robert Reich
08/09/2014
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<snip>[/FONT]
We may be witnessing the beginning of a return to a form of capitalism that was taken for granted in America sixty years ago.
Then, most CEOs assumed they were responsible for all their stakeholders.
"The job of management," proclaimed Frank Abrams, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, in 1951, "is to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly interested groups ... stockholders, employees, customers, and the public at large."
Johnson & Johnson publicly stated that its "first responsibility" was to patients, doctors, and nurses, and not to investors.
What changed? In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders - if they abandoned their other stakeholders.
What changed? In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders - if they abandoned their other stakeholders.
The raiders figured profits would be higher if the companies fought unions, cut workers' pay or fired them, automated as many jobs as possible or moved jobs abroad, shuttered factories, abandoned their communities, and squeezed their customers.
<snip>
.
"Then, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][during the period of America's greatest growth][/FONT] most CEOs assumed they were responsible for all their stakeholders."
The Rebirth of Stakeholder Capitalism?
Robert Reich
08/09/2014
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]<snip>[/FONT]
We may be witnessing the beginning of a return to a form of capitalism that was taken for granted in America sixty years ago.
Then, most CEOs assumed they were responsible for all their stakeholders.
"The job of management," proclaimed Frank Abrams, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, in 1951, "is to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly interested groups ... stockholders, employees, customers, and the public at large."
Johnson & Johnson publicly stated that its "first responsibility" was to patients, doctors, and nurses, and not to investors.
What changed? In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders - if they abandoned their other stakeholders.
What changed? In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders - if they abandoned their other stakeholders.
The raiders figured profits would be higher if the companies fought unions, cut workers' pay or fired them, automated as many jobs as possible or moved jobs abroad, shuttered factories, abandoned their communities, and squeezed their customers.
<snip>
.