Shareholders, Stakeholders and the 'Ordoliberalism'

Abstract

It is often said that a company should be expected to trouble itself with nothing else than the maximisation of shareholder return. In this article I suggest a three times 'yes, but'-solution: It is feasible for the legislation to consider the interests of non-shareholder stakeholders but not primarily by company law. An inclusion in company law is only useful as far as the specific corporate structure is concerned but this exception is not very extensive. Especially, I do not support a general duty to consider a great number of stakeholders' interests. As far as other areas of law are concerned, the hurdles are less restrictive but economic arguments can justify certain restrictions.

Keywords: Company law, shareholder protection, stakeholder protection, ordoliberalism

JEL Classification: K22, K31