Shareholder Theory

The shareholder theory was originally proposed by Milton Friedman and it states that the sole responsibility of business is to increase profits. It is based on the premise that management are hired as the agent of the shareholders to run the company for their benefit, and therefore they are legally and morally obligated to serve their interests. The only qualification on the rule to make as much money as possible is “conformity to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom.”

The shareholder theory is now seen as the historic way of doing business with companies realising that there are disadvantages to concentrating solely on the interests of shareholders. A focus on short term strategy and greater risk taking are just two of the inherent dangers involved. The role of shareholder theory can be seen in the demise of corporations such as Enron and Worldcom where continuous pressure on managers to increase returns to shareholders led them to manipulate the company accounts.