Beyond stockholders and stakeholders: A plea for corporate moral autonomy

Abstract

In order to ensure that corporations act in socially responsible ways. R. Freeman says that firms should be legally required to act in accordance with the directives of a moral theory which he developed especially for business - a theory which has come to be called normative stakeholder theory (NST). This paper argues that NST fails as a moral theory and that this failure indicates: 1. that the quest to develop a special moral theory for use in business should be abandoned, and 2. the imposition of any moral theory upon business should not be attempted, but rather corporations should be allowed to determine their moral responsibilities in any way they see fit.