98 Can stakeholder and shareholder interests align?

The central tension throughout this text has been the exploration of how profit-seeking behaviors and fiduciary theories compare and contrast with behaviors that create social value. These two principles face tension: for corporations, shareholder primacy has powerful sway over corporate imaginations, even if its legal roots have significant and debatable nuance. For other business entities, duties towards other owners may create similar concerns. While the law may not fully resolve the tension between creating business and social value, the principles in this text can be applied to remove the dichotomy itself. As companies respond to their stakeholders, implement ethical practices, and practice strategic philanthropy, they can create economic and social value at the same time. Responsiveness to consumers can create products that add value to their lives. Caring about employees as means rather than as ends can create loyalty and productivity. Listening to shareholders may help direct the company in profitable directions. Engaging local communities can avoid losing a social license to operate with its attendant benefits. Doing these things requires commitment, creativity, and long-term thinking, but the rewards are well worth the costs.