BRT Statements from the Normative Perspective The Business Roundtable (BRT) 1997 Statement on Corporate Governance may serve as a case-study in stockholder theory. It stresses that a corporation’s primary objective is increasing its market value, which is why its primary social obligation is responding promptly “to situations that may directly affect stockholder value” (Business Roundtable [BRT], 1997, 1). This perspective is fully in line with the basic tenets of normative stockholder theory as defined by Hasnas – that managers are “agents for the stockholders,” and their social responsibility is to stockholders alone (1998, 21). The 1997 Statement does not elaborate on possible collision between ethical obligations to stakeholders and ethical principles of larger society. The document only offers truisms such as “it is in the long-term interests of stockholders for a corporation to treat its employees well” (BRT, 1997, 3). Thus, while stressing ethical obligation to achieve economic goals for stockholders, the Statement underscores its potential ethical complications. The 2019 Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation champions the values of the stakeholder theory. The document states that the corporations “share a fundamental commitment to all of [their] stakeholders,” and even underlines the word “all” for additional emphasis (BRT, 2019, 1). It also notes that each stakeholder is “essential,” and the stockholders only occupy the fifth and last position in the list offered – after customers, employees, suppliers, and communities (BRT, 2019, 1). This approach demonstrates a sharp contrast to that of 1997 and is a clear example of the normative stakeholder theory. It maintains that all groups involved in a firm’s activities have notable interests, and there is “no prima facie priority of one set of interests and benefits over another” (Donaldson and Preston, 1995, 68). Thus, the social responsibility of a corporation is not only to its shareholders but to all groups participating in the business processes. If one judges both documents based on the central premise of the normative perspective – that the corporations should assume social responsibility because it is ethically necessary – one will find out that the 1997 statement lacking. It is normative in a technical sense, as it rationalizes the corporations’ obligations to their shareholders in ethical rather than purely practical terms. However, the document still arrives to profit as the ultimate rationale and declares higher stock value its ultimate purpose. Essentially, is implies that “value maximization leads to [an]… efficient solution” regarding CSR which is why pursuing higher stock value should theoretically result in social benefits for everyone involved (Jensen, 2002, 240). Thus, the 1997 Statement first declares a purely financial goal and then assigns a supposed social benefit to it. As a result, its normative character is not inherent, but secondary to the economic goals– “profitable first and right second.” The 2019 Statement, on the other hand, seems rooted in the normative perspective on CSR in a more fundamental way. It immediately begins with an ethical premise that “Americans deserve an economy” promoting opportunities and dignity, and then derives principles form this ethical obligation (BRT, 2019, 1). Even though the word “ethics” or its derivatives only appears once in “dealing