Marketing Adding Extra Value Through the Championing of the Democratization of Corporate Purpose

Despite the long and checkered (albeit successful) history of democracy, its record within corporations has not been widely regarded as a success. Trust in the ethical behaviour of business people, and their sense of responsibility to the various stakeholder groups has never been good, but is at a particularly low ebb now. The sheer dynamism of the present business environment only accentuates the need for progress. There are many relevant issues in law, corporate governance and personal values, amongst others. This paper addresses only one: the need for greater democratization of corporate purpose and the ability of marketing to champion this and thus create and deliver greater value. The paper outlines the challenges of greater democratization and why marketing is better placed than other functional areas to contribute positively towards a new framework and era. It also briefly debates the workability of the most troublesome options – the stakeholder corporation, the tightly – held shareholder corporation, and the manager – controlled company and the ‘shareholder value maximizing’ corporation masquerading as a stakeholder-oriented business.