Week 1 Flashcards

Question

What are **Freeman's arguments** in the stakeholder debate?

Answer 1

**Reasonable pluralism:*** We need a **plural perception** of the relationship between business and society * **seperation fallacy:** the economy cannot be seperated from all other parts of society (is intellectually fallacious), all these structures are part of a system (1) * He wants to **prescribe pluralism** Stakeholder theory makes the business world complex bc of conflicts of interest but Freeman is optimistic: assumes capitalistic agents are willing to accept reasonable pluralism (2) * Stakeholders’ interests should therefore inform strategic management ## Footnote 1. Freeman is a **system theorist**: ystems theory is an interdisciplinary study of systems open in new as they relate to one another within a larger, more complex system. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. - Friedman argues the oppossite: the structures should be seperated 2. Friedman argues opposite: don't perscribe, let firms alone

Answer 2

* Discusses what we as a society can expect of businesses * Pragmatic for manager bc they know what is expected * Is politically relevant: which actors should solve societal problems (governments or businesses?) * has a moral perspective (reasonable pluralism)

Answer 3

'Building back better' emerged in response to the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic: he debate about a transition to **stakeholder capitalism** Friedman would have seen this as the end of democracy because it gives corporations too much power. Critics argue that it is just about saving capitalism from capitalists (1). ## Footnote 1. save capitalism from its own excesses and flaws, rather than fundamentally addressing underlying systemic issues. They suggest that while the rhetoric may emphasize positive change, in practice, the reset may prioritize maintaining the status quo and preserving the interests of powerful economic actors.

Answer 4

Freeman advocates a **“reasonable pluralism”**, which is supposed *“to bend together the central concepts of business with those of ethics”. *

Answer 5

A way of doing philanthropy, which mirrors the way that business is done in the for-profit world. Solving the world’s biggest and most pressing issues. Rather than simply writing a check, the ultra-wealthy are taking on a very personal and involved approach by starting their own philanthropic ventures and applying market-based solutions to the causes they take up. | See summary for example

Answer 6

* Just a way of saving capitalism from capitalist: maintaining capitalism and the status quo while saving it from its ruin by capitalistic greed * Will entrepreneurs do better than managers and politicians?

Answer 7

1. As a **PR-tactic**: things such as greenwashing and virtue signaling 2. As **CSR/ CSP**: actually wanting and trying to deal w/ social issues 3. As **top-down elites or government policy** shaping business 4. As **the business model** (Freeman's view): involves a fundamental shift in how businesses operate, integrating the interests of various stakeholders into their core strategies and decision-making processes.

Answer 8

Individuals, with enormous amounts of wealth who can do what it would otherwise take a social movement to do, they have power to influence the world.

Answer 9

* Actors: hyperagents * Idea: Richesse oblige ## Footnote Richesse oblige= with great power comes great responsibility

Answer 10

* **un- or anti-democratic**: hyperagents cannot be voted away if the public does not agree with actions * Richesse does not only oblige, it **expects to be obliged too ** * **Sets the scientific agenda** cause researchers go where the money is * David Rieff: “for the first time in modern history, private business—the most politically influential, undertaxed, and underregulated sector among those groups that dispose of real power and wealth in the world, as well as the least democratically accountable—should be entrusted with the welfare and fate of the powerless and the hungry.”

Answer 11

*This depiction may lead to difficulties in the firm for seeing from other perspectives* 1. The firm as middle stakeholder is interhcnageable w/ other stakeholders 2. Put a picture of the chosen stakeholder in the middle 3. Take a systems approach portraying interrelatedness

Answer 12

* Theoretical flaws * Too much emphasis on powerful stakeholders * Decentring models are fake/ irrelevant * Thinking is not acting * Refusal to really think about ethical implications to others * Stakeholder analysis is overly rational and bureaucratic, responsibility is not * Moral responsibility is related to the 'human face’ (Levinas), not to systems theory or complexity theory

Answer 13

*Known for his phenomenological approach to ethics and his emphasis on the ethical significance of interpersonal relationships. His work explores themes such as responsibility, alterity, and the face-to-face encounter with the Other.* Our understanding is a **selfish totalization** of the world around us. He makes a clear dinstiguish between 'same' that which is me and 'other'; that which is not me. For Levinas responsibility is felt in an encounter with the Other. Morality comes from relationships between human subjects and moral subjects. However, he offers few practical directions for how to operationalize this responsibility.

Answer 14

*known for his contributions to social theory and his analysis of modernity and the condition of postmodernity. Bauman's work often focuses on issues such as globalization, consumerism, liquid modernity, and the nature of social bonds and morality in contemporary society.* He has the same ideas as Levinas about the Other and the responsibility that comes forth from encounters with the Other. Dividing responsibility among many in institutional and organizational projects remove the face-to-face encounter with the Other.

Answer 15

**Levinas:** 1. Stakeholder theory concerns itself w/ the firm rather than the individual 2. Each class of stakeholders is viewed as one 'same' rather than a collection of individuals **Bauman:** 1. Bureaucracy removes the face-to-face encounter w/ the 'other' and therefore bureaucracies can't respond to stakeholders' needs 2. We is not actualy the plural of form 'I' and so the idea of collective responsibity is fallacious ***These views remind us that real encounters with the 'other' explain the infinite responsibilities we have toward one another and that we cannot escape this accountability.***

Week 1 Flashcards

Introduction lecture + stakeholder theory