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Part - V

The cure is to put real power in the hands of as many people as possible, via widespread, genuine direct ownership of global corporations. The modern corporation, for all its flaws, is the ideal vehicle for carrying social and economic justice to America and the world. It must be transformed and democratized. The needed internal corporate reforms are embodied in a system called 'Value-Based Management', with its three principles of participation, distribution, and social justice.

• Participation means that future ownership opportunities must be equally accessible to all workers in the company, even in preference over other stakeholders. Ownership must be real ownership, with the full rights of private property, including sharing control and profits. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) laws should be changed to guarantee worker-owners the right to vote for members of the board of directors in direct proportion to their ownership stakes. This would, for example, close the loophole that allows a supposedly worker-owned company to be sold without the consent of the workers in the event of a cash sale.

• Distribution means that each person's outtake from the company must match the value of each one's contribution. The law should encourage the full payout of dividends to all owners by making them tax-deductible at the corporate level, thus a significant source of non-wage income for worker-owners. This gives the worker-owners a measure for holding management accountable.

• Social justice is the harmonizing value that guides organized actions for restructuring the way the company functions. It particularly targets systemic injustices and abuses of power, reflecting the moral character of the business.

Global capitalism has, by and large, abandoned ethics in favor of expedience. Value-based management offers a way to democratize corporate power within a more just and free market economy. Just as access to the vote is an essential key to political justice, universal access to full ownership rights is crucial for achieving economic justice for all.

Concluded.

* Contributed by -
Swastik Rath,
Class of 2004,
Goa Institute of Management,
Ribandar, Goa.