Business school blather can’t beat real-world CEO know-how
What’s needed is a new management theory that avoids the deceptive certainties of neoliberalism and the equally deceptive vagaries of stakeholder capitalism.
Management theory is in a dismal state. The theory that dominated business thinking from the late 1970s onwards – call it neo-liberalism for short – lies in ruins thanks to Enron and the global financial crisis. But the theory that replaced it – stakeholder capitalism for short – is proving no better.
Stakeholder capitalism depends on the idea that companies should consider the interests of a wider range of people than shareholders. But what successful company fails to consider the interests of workers or customers? And how does this so-called theory help you choose one set of priorities over another? Prioritising all stakeholders means having no priorities and no focus.
