“Shareholder- versus Stakeholder-Orientation in Managerial Decision-Making—Editorial by Guest Editors”

Excerpt

A recurrent debate in managerial science is directed towards the overall objective of the firm. In short, the debate can be expressed by the words “shareholder-value versus stakeholder-value”. Should a firm only seek to create value for the owners or should it care about the balance between the legitimate interests of all stakeholders? This appears to be rather a political or ethical question than an issue of strict economic rationality. In the recent past global challenges like the climate change have led to the cry for sustainability which, in the tradition of the triple bottom-line, can be regarded as the three-dimensional structure of economic, social and ecological objectives (Elkington 1997). And, of course, the debate on shareholder- versus stakeholder-orientation was intensified by the crisis we were going through in 2008/09. …