{"id":68,"date":"2023-08-03T10:07:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T14:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cebe\/chapter\/__unknown__-13\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T12:13:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T16:13:05","slug":"corporation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cebe\/chapter\/corporation\/","title":{"raw":"Corporation","rendered":"Corporation"},"content":{"raw":"

The term corporation<\/strong> may be used in multiple, and not always mutually-compatible, senses. In the broadest sense, it may refer to any<\/em> group of persons united in seeking a common goal or serving a common purpose. In perhaps its most ordinary sense, it refers to a legally recognized and constituted entity that is separate from the people who compose it. In perhaps its narrowest sense, it refers to a legally recognized and constituted, for-profit entity whose ownership shares are traded on public exchanges (like the New York Stock Exchange). In a very loose sense, it may be used as a synonym for \u201ccompany\u201d or \u201cfirm\u201d\u2014referring even to companies or firms that are not legally incorporated. All of these senses of corporation<\/em> are used in some cases, some of the time, in business ethics.<\/p>\r\n

In business ethics, controversial questions surround the legally recognized, for-profit corporation. One question is whether that corporation\u2019s shareholders are in effect the owners<\/em> of the corporation. \u00a0Another question is whether anyone<\/em> \u2013 shareholders or others \u2013 owns the corporation. An extremely controversial question surrounds\u00a0corporate personhood: does the corporation\u2019s separate legal<\/em> identity mean that the corporation also has a moral<\/em> identity separate from the people who compose it? In particular, can a corporation be morally responsible for actions for which none of the people who compose the corporation are responsible?<\/p>\r\nPart of what makes corporations controversial is the power they possess. Various corporations are created\u2014that is, incorporated\u2014precisely because they are a powerful way to combine resources (human talents, natural resources, etc.) to get things done. The general fact that corporations can be very powerful means that they have the ability both to do enormous good and to do enormous harm. This raises the question of whether corporations in general are, on net, a force for good in the world. Perspectives on that question vary.\r\n

See also in CEBE:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n