nach oben

Journal of Business Ethics

Erschienen in:

04.04.2016

What Corporate Governance Can Learn from Catholic Social Teaching

Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics | Ausgabe 4/2017

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

This reflection focuses on what insights Catholic Social Teaching (CST) can provide for corporate governance. I argue that the ‘standard’ agency theory is overly reductionist and insufficiently incorporates important economic limitations (such as asymmetric information, incomplete contracts, and the need for coordination) as well as human frailty. As a result, such agency theory insufficiently distinguishes firms from markets, which can easily relativize how we treat others and facilitate rationalization of unethical behavior. I then explore how three pillars of CST—human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity—can help overcome these limitations. CST proposes a vision of the business corporation as a community of persons, working together in cooperative business relationships toward the shared purpose of contributing to human flourishing.

Vorheriger Artikel The Common Good of the Firm and Humanistic Management: Conscious Capitalism and Economy of Communion

Nächster Artikel Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Theoretical Integration of Catholic Social Teaching and the Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

See also Easterbrook and Fischel (1991) and Macey (1991), who combine these assumptions with the argument that shareholders as residual claimants have most at stake (and thus have the appropriate incentives to make corporate decisions on behalf of all stakeholders) to argue for shareholder control of the firm.

See Cremers and Sepe 2016, especially Sect. 3.

See e.g., the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2004), especially chapter 3 on ‘The Human Person and Human Rights.’

See also John Paul II (1991, p. 31): “The original source of all that is good is the very act of God, who created both the earth and man, and who gave the earth to man so that he might have dominion over it by his work and enjoy its fruits (Gen 1:28). God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone.”

The first part is from Williamson (1988) on page 569, the second from footnote 3 at the bottom of page 569.

(Centesimus Annus #46) “Nor does the Church close her eyes to the danger of fanaticism or fundamentalism who, in the name of an ideology which purports to be scientific or religious, claim the right to impose on others their own concept of what is true and good. Christian truth is not of this kind. [I]t is not an ideology… the Christian faith does not presume to imprison changing socio-political realities in a rigid schema, and it recognizes that human life is realized in history in conditions that are diverse and imperfect. … [I]n constantly reaffirming the transcendent dignity of the person, the Church's method is always that of respect for freedom.”

See http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/march/documents/papa-francesco_20130322_corpo-diplomatico.html.

Abela, A. V. (2001). Profit and more: Catholic Social Teaching and the purpose of the firm. Journal of Business Ethics, 31, 107–116.CrossRef

Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2003). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Review of Economic Studies, 70, 489–520.CrossRef

Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2006). Belief in a just world and redistributive politics. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 699–746.CrossRef

Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2010). Individual and corporate social responsibility (Coase lecture). Economica, 77, 1–19.CrossRef

Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2011). Identity, morals and taboos: Beliefs as assets. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(2), 805–855.CrossRef

Benedictus, XVI. (2009). Encyclical letter ‘Caritas in Veritate’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Berle, A. A., & Means, G. C. (1932). The modern corporation and private property. New York: Macmillan.

Coase, R. H. (1937). The nature of the firm. Economica, 4, 386–404.CrossRef

Cortright, S. A., & Naughton, M. J. (Eds.). (2002). Rethinking the purpose of business—Interdisciplinary Essays from the Catholic Social Tradition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Cremers, M., Litov, L., & Sepe, S. (2015). Staggered boards and firm value, revisited. Working Paper, University of Notre Dame.

Cremers, M., Masconale, S., & Sepe, S. (2016). Commitment and Entrenchment in Corporate Governance? Northwestern Law Review, 110 (forthcoming).

Cremers, M., Nair, V., & Peyer, U. (2008). Takeover defenses and competition: The role of stakeholders. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 5(4), 791–818.CrossRef

Cremers, M., & Sepe, S. (2016). The shareholder value of empowered boards. Stanford Law Review, 68(1), 67–148.

Dierksmeier, C., & Celano, A. (2012). Thomas Aquinas on justice as a global virtue in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 247–272.CrossRef

Dobson, J. (1999). Is shareholder wealth maximization immoral? Financial Analyst Journal, 55(5), 69–75.CrossRef

Easterbrook, F. H., & Fischel, D. R. (1991). Voting in corporate law. Journal of Law and Economics, 26, 395–427.CrossRef

Fama, E. (1980). Agency problems and the theory of the firm. Journal of Political Economy, 88, 288–307.CrossRef

Follett, M. P. (1942). Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett (Henry C. Metcalf & L. Urwick, eds.), New York: Harper & Brothers.

Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine.

Garvey, G. E. (2003). The theory of the fir, managerial responsibility, and catholic social teaching. Journal of Markets and Morality, 6(2), 525–540.

Glendon, M. A. (2011). The bearable lightness of dignity. First Things, 213, 41–45.

Guitián, G. (2015). Service as a bridge between ethical principles and business practice: A Catholic Social Teaching perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 128, 59–72.CrossRef

Jensen, M., & Meckling, W. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and capital structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305–360.CrossRef

John Paul II. (1981). Encyclical letter ‘Laborem Exercens’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

John Paul II. (1987). Encyclical letter ‘Sollicitudo Rei Socialis’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

John Paul II. (1991). Encyclical letter ‘Centesimus Annus’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Johnson, W. C., Karpoff, J. M., & Yi, S. (2015). The bonding hypothesis of takeover defenses: Evidence from IPO firms. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(2), 307–332.

Klein, A., & Zur, E. (2011). The impact of hedge fund activism on the target firm’s existing bondholders. Review of Financial Studies, 24(5), 1735–1771.CrossRef

Leo XIII. (1891). Encyclical letter ‘Rerum Novarum’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Macey, J. R. (1991). An economic analysis of the various rationales for making shareholders the exclusive beneficiairies of corporate fiduciary duties. Stenson Law Review, 21, 57–90.

Malinvaud, E., & Glendon, M. A. (Eds.) (2006). Conceptualization of the person in social sciences. The proceedings of the eleventh plenary session of the pontifical academy of social sciences. Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Mayer, C. (2013). Firm commitment: Why the corporation is failing us and how to restore trust in it. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Melé, D. (2011). The firm as a ‘community of persons’: A pillar of humanistic business ethos. Journal of Business Ethics, 106(1), 89–101.CrossRef

Melé, D., & Dierksmeier, C. (Eds.). (2012). Human development in business. Values and Humanistic management in the in the encyclical ‘‘caritas in veritate’’. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.

Melé, D., & Naughton, M. (2011). The encyclical-letter ‘Caritas in Veritate’: Ethical challenges for business. Journal of Business Ethics, 100, 1–7.CrossRef

Naughton, M. (1995). Participation in the organization: An ethical analysis from The Papal Social Tradition. Journal of Business Ethics, 14, 923–935.CrossRef

Pieper, J. (1966). The four cardinal virtues. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Pieper, J. (1997). Faith, hope, love. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

Pius XI. (1931). Encyclical letter ‘Quadragesimo Anno’. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2004). Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (available at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html).

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2014). Vocation of the Business Leader—A reflection. (available at http://www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/research/publications/vocationbusinesslead/).

Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011, January–February) Creating shared value—How to reinvent capitalism—and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Harvard Business Review, pp. 1–17.

Rajan, R., & Zingales, L. (1998, May). Power in a theory of the firm. Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 387–432.

Ross, S. (1987). The interrelations of finance and economics: Theoretical perspectives. American Economic Review, 77, 29–34.

Rossouw, G. (1994). Business ethics: Where have all the Christians gone? Journal of Business Ethics, 13(7), 557–570.CrossRef

Sandelands, L. E. (2009). The business of business is the human person: Lessons from the Catholic Social Tradition. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 93–101.CrossRef

Sandelands, L. E. (2010). Why the center holds: On the nuptial foundations of the corporation. Catholic Social Science Review, 15, 193–209.CrossRef

Schlag, M., & Mercado, J. (Eds.). (2012). Free markets and the culture of the common good. Berlin: Springer-Heildeger.

Sison, A. J. G., & Fontrodona, J. (2012). The common good of the firm in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 211–246.CrossRef

Tirole, J. (2009). Cognition and incomplete contracts. American Economic Review, 99(1), 265–294.CrossRef

Williamson, O. (1988). Corporate finance and corporate governance. Journal of Finance, 43(3), 567–591.CrossRef

Williamson, O. (2000). The new institutional economics: Taking stock, looking ahead. Journal of Economic Literature, 38–3, 595–613.CrossRef

Zingales, L. (2000). In search of new foundations. Journal of Finance, 55, 1623–1653.CrossRef

Zingales, L. (2015a). The ‘cultural revolution’ in finance. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(1), 1–4.CrossRef

Zingales, L. (2015b). Does finance benefit society? Journal of Finance, 70(4), 1327–1363.CrossRef

Titel: What Corporate Governance Can Learn from Catholic Social Teaching
Publikationsdatum: 04.04.2016
Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics / Ausgabe 4/2017
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3127-5

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 4/2017

Leadership: The Being Component. Can the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Contribute to the Debate on Business Education?

Christian Ethics and Spirituality in Leading Business Organizations: Editorial Introduction

The Need to Give Gratuitously: A Relevant Concept Anchored in Catholic Social Teaching to Envision the Consumer Behavior

Having Burned the Straw Man of Christian Spiritual Leadership, what can We Learn from Jesus About Leading Ethically?

There are no Codes, Only Interpretations. Practical Wisdom and Hermeneutics in Monastic Organizations

Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Theoretical Integration of Catholic Social Teaching and the Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm