Stakeholders’ Interests and Compliance

Abstract

One of the most important issues pertaining to the role and duties of corporations is certainly the duty to take into account the interests of stakeholders, even in the modern era of “shareholder primacy.” In current practice, this issue manifests as an essential element of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory. Recently, two further issues have emerged. The first concerns the duties of company directors as regards the management practices (and related risks) adopted in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. The second concerns the “sustainability” of a business activity in terms of (i) the sustainability of the impact of that activity on stakeholders and (ii) the duty of the company to pursue the sustainable development of business operations and thus, in particular, to set a medium- to long-term profit goal.