v8n4: von Kriegstein on Ownership and Shareholder Primacy

Shareholder Ownership is Irrelevant for Shareholder Primacy, by Hasko von Kriegstein

A COMMENTARY ON Alan Strudler (2017), “What To Do With Corporate Wealth?” J Poli Philos 25(1): 108–126.

Abstract:
Strudler rejects shareholder primacy and argues that, once contractual obligations have been fulfilled and shareholders have received a reasonable return on investment, corporate executives may use corporate wealth for the general good. He seeks to establish this claim via an argument that, contrary to the received view, shareholders do not own corporations. After raising some questions about the latter argument, this commentary goes on to argue that the question of corporate ownership is a red herring. The argument for shareholder primacy that Strudler wants to reject does not rely on the premise that shareholders own the firm.

To download the full PDF, click here: von Kriegstein on Strudler on Shareholder Ownership and Primacy

Hasko von Kriegstein is Assistant Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University.