Book contents
- The Profit Motive
- The Profit Motive
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Editorial Note
- Introduction
- Part I The Law
- Part II The Merits
- 7 Possible Merits of the Business Roundtable’s Embrace of Stakeholder Capitalism
- 8 Was There a Business Case for the Business Roundtable’s Embrace of Stakeholder Capitalism?
- 9 Why Did the Business Roundtable CEOs Shift Their Position?
- 10 Why the Business Roundtable CEOs Should Have Stayed the Course
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
9 - Why Did the Business Roundtable CEOs Shift Their Position?
from Part II - The Merits
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2023
- The Profit Motive
- The Profit Motive
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Editorial Note
- Introduction
- Part I The Law
- Part II The Merits
- 7 Possible Merits of the Business Roundtable’s Embrace of Stakeholder Capitalism
- 8 Was There a Business Case for the Business Roundtable’s Embrace of Stakeholder Capitalism?
- 9 Why Did the Business Roundtable CEOs Shift Their Position?
- 10 Why the Business Roundtable CEOs Should Have Stayed the Course
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The 2019 shift in position by the Business Roundtable CEOs from their traditional embrace of shareholder value maximization to stakeholder capitalism attracted enormous attention. Oddly, however, the CEOs offered nothing but platitudes to explain their shift. This chapter explores possible explanations for their shift. Were the Business Roundtable CEOs woke? It is true that CEO activism leans left but the profit motive survives. Were the Business Roundtable CEOs responding to changes in consumer, investor, and labor demands? Were the Business Roundtable CEOs responding to Green Activist Investors? Were the Business Roundtable CEOs trying to fend off regulation? Were the Business Roundtable CEOs just cynical oligopolists? All of these prove possible but unlikely explanations. Two more plausible explanations are that the Business Roundtable CEOs were pining for the days of Imperial CEOs, because stakeholder capitalism inevitably means that CEOs are less accountable, and that the Business Roundtable CEOs were greenwashing.
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- Information
- The Profit MotiveDefending Shareholder Value Maximization, pp. 105 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023