In a recent op-ed in Chief Executive, Professor Karen Spierling discusses why we need the liberal arts to achieve stakeholder capitalism.

She notes:

…the world has experienced a global pandemic that has turned business and economies upside-down. This chaos has only intensified the debate about the best model for business, with consulting firms such as McKinsey making the case for switching to a stakeholder approach, and groups such as the Shareholder Equity Alliance dismissing that approach as ineffective if not impossible.

A key issue in this stakeholder/shareholder argument is how people are defining efficiency and what level of complexity they are willing to navigate in pursuing a company¡¯s goals. The stakeholder model requires thinking through impacts on many constituencies ¡ª customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and local communities.

Crucially, there is no single stakeholder model that will work to govern every kind of business in every location. Shifting to stakeholder capitalism requires a willingness to think situationally¡ªto analyze the broad context of a particular enterprise, identify the key stakeholders for that company at that time, and remain willing to revisit that analysis over time.