An inquiry into the normative core of stakeholder theory: towards a community of stakeholders ??

摘要

A number of normative theories have already been suggested as competing normative cores of stakeholder theory. As a consequence, suggesting yet another normative corefor stakeholder theory will probably add to the confusion facing managers and academics who try to catch up with the rapid developments of stakeholder theory.However, a critical assessment of some of these existing stakeholder theories shows that most of them fail to take the distinct contribution of the stakeholder concept intoaccount. I argue that this distinct contribution is the awareness of the existence of multiple stakeholders and diverse stakeholders interests. This contribution, though itwas primarily made on a descriptive level, has profound implications for people who want to develop a normative theory of the corporation which could really be called anormative stakeholder theory of the corporation. In this paper, I will try to clarify these implications.