USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

A naturological approach to corporate governance: An extension of the Frederick model of corporation-community relationships.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Deby L. Cassill

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Abstract

Naturological systems contain two bases of power: personal and group capital. Profit seeking and profit sharing are mechanisms by which capital is obtained. For example, acquiring profits in the form of body fat, food caches, and prime territory allows organisms to survive scarcity; likewise, profit sharing appeases those who might otherwise steal resources. Moreover, sharing is a cost-effective way for organisms to avoid predation. Complementary powers of nature are applicable to corporations, with implications for governance. Corporate environments dominated by recessions and takeovers (the equivalent of scarcity and predation) require investors, management, and boards (the wealthy) to share profits with employees and the surrounding community (the masses) for longterm survival. To explore these mutualistic relationships, the authors discuss naturological approaches to corporations and stakeholders. Connections with governance literature follow, emphasizing solutions in nature to age-old problems that contributed to recent abuses. The article closes with implications for socially responsible corporate governance.

Comments

Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Business & Society, 46(2), 286-303. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Language

en_US

Publisher

Sage Publications

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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