PMGM7001 Chap.7 Global Citizenship, Stakeholders and the Capitalist System
Global Citizenship, Stakeholders and the Capitalist System
What global citizenship asks
The fourth topic argues that global citizenship is built into global management, because corporations act as citizens of many countries and their staff are citizens of host countries.
The lecture defines it three ways: institutionally, through the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals; corporately, as the question of whether a company owes allegiance to shareholders or to a wider set of stakeholders; and personally, as responsibilities that widen from oneself to society and the planet.
Stakeholders and the food-rescue case
Freeman described a stakeholder as anyone able to influence a firm in reaching its goals, or influenced by that pursuit.
The lecture adds a five-question screen for deciding which stakeholders are key. The case is Food Angel, a Hong Kong charity that turns rescued surplus food into free meals, growing from twenty meals a day cooked by its founder to thousands a day with paid staff, donors and partners.
The discussion asks who its stakeholders are, what each needs, and why it took a private individual to start it.
How the system works, and where it broke
The lecture sets out the case for capitalism, self-interest, private property, individual rights and rules, and Friedman's view that business's one responsibility is profit within the rules of the game.
It then uses the American financial crisis to show rules loosened and broken, and reports rising financial-sector debt, executive pay and income inequality alongside the gains markets have brought.
What follows for business and individuals
When rules fail and governments manage social problems poorly, the public expects business to do more.
The lecture argues that responsibility works best when aligned with profit under fair rules, and it leaves the individual with an informed personal choice.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Corporations and employees as global citizens
- 02
Three ways of defining global citizenship
- 03
Freeman's stakeholder definition
- 04
Five questions for identifying key stakeholders
- 05
Food Angel and its stakeholders
- 06
The case for the capitalist system
- 07
Friedman and the rules of the game
- 08
The financial crisis as a breakdown of rules
- 09
Distribution, trust and stakeholder capitalism
Worked example · free
Screen a firm's stakeholders
- 3Apply the screen to the charity.
- 3Apply the screen to the university.
Key terms
- Global Citizenship
- Action by people and organisations with a global outlook, whether social, political, environmental or economic, recognising that each belongs to many local and distant networks.
- Corporate Citizenship
- The extent to which a business meets its legal, ethical and economic responsibilities, including social responsibility, sustainability, ethics and professionalism.
- Stakeholder
- Anyone, a person or a group, able to influence whether a firm reaches its objectives or influenced by its pursuit of them, following Freeman.
- Stakeholder Capitalism
- The view that business should serve customers, suppliers, workers, communities and host nations as well as shareholders.
- Affordable Housing Goals
- Numerical targets set in 1992 for how much agency-backed lending should reach borrowers on low incomes or from minority groups.
Global Citizenship, Stakeholders and the Capitalist System FAQ
Does the course reject Friedman's view of business?
No. It presents Friedman's claim that business should increase profits within the rules of the game, then shows how the rules were weakened and abused. Its conclusion is that responsibility works best when aligned with profit under fair rules, which qualifies Friedman rather than dismissing him.
Why is a charity used as the case in a business course?
Because it shows the problem the lecture is about. A wealthy city needed a private individual to feed its elderly from its own food waste, which the lecture uses to ask what went wrong in the system and what businesses and individuals can do, including through the corporate funding the charity relies on.
How many stakeholders should my analysis cover?
Only the key ones. Use the five questions: real impact on performance, a clear want, a dynamic relationship, no easy replacement, and not already covered elsewhere. A short list analysed in depth scores better than a long list of names.
Assessment move
Draw the stakeholder map for the company your group has chosen, apply the five questions to cut it to the key few, and write one sentence per stakeholder on what it needs. The same map will serve the ethics and environmental chapters later.
Working through Global Citizenship, Stakeholders and the Capitalist System in PMGM7001? Sia is AskSia’s AI Management tutor — ask any PMGM7001 Global Citizenship, Stakeholders and the Capitalist System question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how PMGM7001 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
