The stockholder and stakeholder theories are two popular frameworks used to examine the purpose of business and its ethical obligations. With reference to the quote above, both theories seem rational and enjoy strong support. However, a common failing of both is typically how humans interpret and implement the theories in contemporary business environments. For instance, Enron was so focused on the raising the price of their stock that they “cooked the books to produce fake profits”1. This paper will provide a description of each theory and, analyze ethical justifications and major objections to each theory. The ethical justifications will be based on pertinent examples - policies and actions, of businesses such as Wal-Mart. Based on this analysis, the paper will argue that the stockholder theory is more justified and maximally supported by ethical theory justification. An important point to note is that the two theories are extreme endpoints on a continuum of theories. The......

Join Now to view the rest of this term paper!
Members: Login to view this research paper.

Title: Stakeholder
Approximate Word Count: 1701
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

With the Term Papers Lab Membership Pass, you get instant access to every essay on this site, including this essay on Stakeholder, for as long as you remain a member.

Other essays sites charge almost $100 for a single term paper. At Term Papers Lab, you can get instant access to over 100,000 research papers for as little as $29.95!