In search of an alternative to shareholder value maximization

This paper argues that mainstream economic the- ory, far from providing an indisputable plea in favor of shareholder value-maximization, oers striking arguments showing quite the opposite : pro t-maximization cannot be a legitimate prioritarian goal for private rms. This opens the door for a widening of a company's goal. We argue that it should include the concern of all the stakeholders of a company, and cannot be adequately addressed uniquely by Pigouvian taxes or by property rights. Coming to terms with this broad understanding of a company's goal should imply the internalization of the stakeholders' concern within the legal structure of the firm as in the case of the scic in France or the cic in the UK.