The politics of the consumer are not the only ones firms are considering; the politics of the workforce matter too
dinner in London, a chief executive promised that his airline would soon offer electric flights. A credit provider enthused about increasing financial inclusion in the developing world; a luxury-car executive promised to replace the leather in her vehicles’ opulent interiors with pineapple matting and mushroom-basedleather. They seemed to think such things made the companies they run sound more attractive. They probably felt that they were doing good.
In the face of this rising tide, the Business Roundtable has either seen the light or caved in, depending on whom you ask. On August 19th the great and good of-land announced a change of heart about what public companies are for. They now believe that firms should indeed serve stakeholders as well as shareholders.
Such heretics can now hold their heads up again. This is not simply because of the political climate or the public mood. Some economists argue that Friedman’s position belongs to a simpler time. Oliver Hart of Harvard University and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago see his argument as principally motivated by a form of the agency problem; he didn’t like managers being charitable with shareholders’ money, even if it was ostensibly in the firm’s interests.
Firms in other industries are having similar thoughts. In each business, says Mr Haythornthwaite of MasterCard, a wave of digitisation is likely to lead to one company pulling ahead. Because of that concentration of power, he says, the winning platform will need to forge a close link with society to maintain trust.
Companies are also backing liberal social causes. In 2015 Marc Benioff of Salesforce, a software firm, led other bosses, including Apple’s Tim Cook, into opposing a bill in Indiana that would have allowed discrimination against gay people. After President Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, bosses mounted the barricades over his ban on travel to America from Muslim-majority countries.
The politics of the consumer are not the only ones that firms need to consider; in tech, particularly, the politics of the workforce matter. It was the company’s employees who complained about Salesforce’s links to immigration control. Last year, employees at Google forced the firm to stop providing the Pentagon with, a cloud-computing facility for the armed forces.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'A couple of dozen' states are considering an antitrust probe of Big Tech, says DOJ officialMakan Delrahim, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, said several state attorneys general have spoken to the Justice Department about starting their own joint investigation into technology companies.
Read more »
Big Swiss companies must study women's pay gap from next yearMajor Swiss companies will be required to review pay gaps between male and femal...
Read more »
Lowe's analyst sees 'big turnaround potential' and possibly 80% upside for stock'Under the guidance of the new CEO, Lowe's is getting its act together,' says Oppenheimer's Brian Nagel. 'If we're right here and this continues, this stock has a long way to run.'
Read more »
Big Hit Entertainment, Home to BTS, Posts Blockbuster Results for First Half of 2019South Korea’s Big Hit Entertainment, home to BTS, revealed its revenues for the first half of 2019 at an event called “Big Hit Corporate Briefing With the Community” held in Seoul today. The compan…
Read more »