Walking Back from the ‘Friedman Doctrine’?

In the article for Directors & Boards titled “Walking back from the ‘Friedman Doctrine’?” corporate partner Doug Raymond and associate Vanessa Tabler discuss how the obligations of corporations and their boards have progressed from the 1970 “Friedman document” — the view that boards should not pursue any social purposes other than to maximize the return to their owners.

In the article, Raymond and Tabler explain how recent developments, such as the “Accountable Capitalism Act,” which the United States Congress introduced in 2018, and the benefit corporation structure that 10,000 businesses have adopted, have put pressure on boards to consider what role in society their companies had in the past and what role they should play in the future.