GLOBAL PANEL - STUDENT FORUM - TOPIC

"Shareholder vs. Stakeholder - Management in the line of fire between social responsibility and the bottom line."

In recent times the life expectancy of individual management concepts seems to be getting increasingly shorter. Very few of these concepts actually turn out to be a new stimulus. The public's main focus lies on the concept of Shareholder Value. The opinions and views on this topic range from "the philosopher's stone" to the "resurrection of early capitalism".

On the one hand, many expect companies to recognize their social responsibility and to act accordingly ("socially responsible management", "ethical management", "stakeholder management"). On the other hand many voices are heard demanding that companies redirect their focus back to purely economic issues, i.e. companies should concentrate on their placement in the market and should attempt, as their main maxim, to increase company value.

Against the backdrop of increasing globalisation of capital markets and production facilities, and due to the ease of information transfer and accessibility, numerous pressing questions arise. The Global Panel - Student Forum attempted to address some of these questions with its topics "Shareholder vs. Stakeholder - Management in the line of fire between social responsibility and the bottom line". The genesis of these concepts, the basic principles on which they are founded, and their implications for management were detailed and compared. The Global Panel - Student Forum 2001 looked at and discussed various aspects from the purely economic to the ethical-normative, suggested possible future perspectives, and offered the participants the possibility to exchange opinions and experiences.