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Journalists, academics, and even some business leaders are demanding that companies stop focusing so much on delivering profit to shareholders and more on creating value for their stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, and more broadly, communities and the environment.

This, they argue, is a necessary corrective to Milton Friedman-inspired shareholder supremacy that has led to short termism, a lack of investment in innovation, skills and the communities. Many companies have also begun taking explicitly political positions on issues like racial justice and refugee rights.

Those inspired by Friedman would argue, however, that there is no true contradiction and businesses are doing a social good by delivering a profit. Because a business that delivers a useful product while paying their employees, suppliers and taxes is doing a social good — like a pharmaceutical giant delivering a life-saving vaccine to end a pandemic. The focus on ‘stakeholders,’ on the other hand, risks empowering unaccountable managers ‘shirking’ from their legal responsibilities and undermining broader faith in the free market system.

To discuss the role of enterprise in society we have assembled an A-team of thinkers from across journalism, industry, and academia:

Matthew Lesh is the Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute (Host)

Michael R. Strain is the Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy and the Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute

Oliver Wiseman is the US editor of The Critic

Vivek Ramaswamy is an author and entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences