The latest corporate to fall to “stakeholder activism” is The Commonwealth Bank.
Qantas was another with “stakeholders” pushing for the voice, gay marriage, climate change etc
It used to be that only the shareholders of the company were stakeholders, and the company had a fiduciary duty to increase shareholder value.
These days it’s all about corporate social responsibility, and a social license to operate.
AND if you suspected that it was a bastard child of the left youโd be right.
๐๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ ๐จ๐ “๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ค๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ”?
That would be a 30 something Klause Schwab (the same one who heads the WEF) in 1971 when he published a German booklet (Modern Enterprise Management in Mechanical Engineering) arguing that the management of a modern enterprise must serve not only ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ but all ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ to achieve long-term growth and prosperity.
๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ค๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ?
Well, just about anyone who wants to stick their beak into the operation of a company including but no limited to the following:-
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฌ, ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ.
Notice “customers” in that list. So that’s all of us. Anyone and everyone.
Notice too “financiers”. That’d be the Commonwealth Bank.
So, it’s no longer about the business model and the financial projections itโs about the snooty culture of the bank and โ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ฌโ determined by “๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ”.
How often have we heard that condescending elitist phrase about โour valuesโ?
The only value of public companies should be to maximize returns for the shareholders. That was their raison d’etre.
But the activists of the left worked out how to how leverage the shareholder register and apply pressure at the board level without having skin or at best minimum skin in the game themselves.
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