The All-Stakeholders-Considered Case for Corporate Beneficence

Area of Science:

• Business Ethics
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Public Health

Background:

• Corporations are crucial for global public health and well-being.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for corporate beneficence.
• Existing theories on corporate beneficence include economic incentives and ethical duties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore moral forces driving corporate beneficence.
• To propose a stakeholder-oriented model of corporate governance.
• To extend the understanding of corporate obligation beyond shareholder primacy.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of ethical theories on corporate beneficence (Friedman, Dunfee).
• Critique of shareholder primacy in corporate governance.
• Development of a stakeholder-oriented, managerialist approach.

Main Results:

• Corporate beneficence is driven by economic cases, ethical duties, and social contract obligations.
• A stakeholder-oriented model suggests management's duty to do good is conditional on affordability.
• Management is compelled to act beneficently when inaction compromises their moral integrity.

Conclusions:

• Integrating stakeholder perspectives enhances understanding of corporate beneficence.
• Management's moral integrity is a key driver for corporate acts of beneficence.
• Corporate beneficence, when affordable and considered across all stakeholders, is an ethical imperative.