Those in middle age or beyond may have trouble remembering a time when the corporation's focus on shareholders' interests to the exclusion of all other constituencies –customers, employees, suppliers, creditors, the communities in which it operates, and the nation – did not seem second nature.
Why didn't Robert J. Harth, Carnegie Hall's new executive and artistic director, spend more time probing the opinions of his ultimate constituency: his customers?
A "stakeholder provision" that allows corporate directors to put the interests of different constituencies, like customers and employees, above fiduciary duties to shareholders in the event of a takeover bid.
Initially, the task forces' charters were short, only six months (the groups are still active today), and their mission was clear: to explore the issues, opportunities, and strategies affecting their constituencies and customers.
Instead, he thinks the 15-year trend of catering almost exclusively to shareholders, while shortchanging other constituencies like customers and employees, is at the heart of what went wrong: it encouraged boards to concentrate on short-term movements in stock prices and to hire charismatic chief executives who promised sweeping, instant change.
Make sure you take the same approach with other constituencies, including customers, suppliers and other external parties.
By leaving little or no room for white space, much less other constituencies like customers, board members, capital markets, public policy, vendors, media, etc., inevitable conflicts and chaos occur.
Ethical Capitalism has at least two essential ingredients: A focus on creating long-term economic and social value, and a commitment by business to act as stewards of the full spectrum of its constituencies -- customers, employees, suppliers, investors and society.
A properly maintained, moderated, and tracked social platform helps a company gauge where its most important constituency--customers--stands on an issue.
But at $500, it's still overpriced, a testament to RIM's apparent belief that its core constituency of corporate customers still has deep pockets.
Employers, employees face financial conditions together; longevity of partnership depends on how well customers, constituencies needs are met.
