주주자본주의와 이해관계자 자본주의

Abstract

In the United States, it is generally accepted that shareholder wealth maximization is a most important goal of corporate managers, whereas in Germany, it is widely recognized that the board of directors should regard for the competing interests of all stakeholder including shareholders, creditors, debtors, employees, customers, suppliers, the local community, the environment, the nation, the public interests etc. The former is the typical shareholder capitalism model and the later is the stakeholder capitalism model. The writer compared the most remarkable characteristics of shareholder capitalism with that of stakeholder capitalism under the viewpoint of agency costs, disclosure at the capital market, representative suits, board of directors system, revitalization of M&A markets, etc. It is widely accepted that the shareholder capitalism is more suitable for the survival of corporation in the age of international competition. Further, the writer analysed several provisions of the revision draft of the Korean Commercial Code 2006 under the same viewpoint as mentioned above. As a conclusion, the writer expresses the view that the Korean Commercial Code should approach more closely to the shareholder capitalism.