Abstract
Against the backdrop of widening income and asset disparities and rising interest in climate change, discussions on the “purpose of the company” are intensifying mainly in the UK and the US. In these countries, the shareholder primacy approach is being reassessed, with a focus on stakeholders. On the other hand, in Japan, it seems that traditional large corporations are weakening their traditional stakeholder-oriented attitude and moving toward the aforementioned approach, backed by an increase in the shareholding ratio of foreign institutional investors and governance reform of “Abenomics.” How should we capture such seemingly contradictory movements? This study summarises the discussions in the UK and the US, clarifies the points of discussion, and presents suggestions for Japan.
