Corporate Behaviour (orcorporate behavior) is the behaviour of a corporation or corporations (orcompany or companies).
The corporate behaviour of for-profit (capitalist) corporations and not-for-profit (non-capitalist) corporations differ due to the fundamental drive for profit in for-profit corporations, compared to the non-monetary goals often held by not-for-profit corporations.
The Characteristics of for-profit (Capitalist) Corporate Behaviour
Corporate behaviour of for-profit corporations has characteristics. These characteristics are unlikely to remain fixed for various reasons, but key characteristics are discernable from the history of for-profit corporations. Some of the key characteristics may not apply to individual for-profit corporations at a point in time and space, though some key characteristics are probably present at all times. The best example is the drive for profit. The strength or importance of a key characteristic will also vary in time and space for many reasons. For instance a for-profit corporation may be able to grow at a faster rate if it has subsidiaries in other countries.
Reasons are numerous as to why key characteristics are absent or vary in strength or importance. Some reasons could be as follows:
Economic decline
Poor performance
Size of for-profit corporation
Management decisions
Type of for-profit corporation
Competition
Certain individuals and groups have proposed and described the characteristics of corporate behaviour. Read: [1] & [2]. These attempts, whilst a useful contribution, are not objective and should be read with this in mind.
Key characteristics of for-profit Corporate Behaviour
The key characteristics of corporate behaviour are as follows:
Note: This section is under development.
Profit: Profitability is the ultimate driver of corporate decisions. Corporations prefer higher profits to lower profits, at least in the long-run. Profitability is not necessarily the same as community well-being, though a profitable company is more likely to, for example, employ more people than an unprofitable company. Conflicts can exist, however, between what's good for a corporation and what's good for the environment, for example, or its employees or even the good of the state. A corporation is a complex organism and there has been much debate about what drives it. There is an argument that the divorce of ownership from decision-taking means that profitability isn't the main drive - senior managers may have other imperatives like keeping their jobs and avoiding being taken-over (which might run counter to the interests of share-holders). Corporations often like to grow, if only because they fear a bigger competitor having cost advantages. This is not always true, however: there have been cases where corporations have been broken up into constituent parts.
Amorality: Not being human, corporations as such do not have moralsoraltruistic goals. Neither, though, does any other organisation. Corporations are, though, run by people who are subject to law and rules of morality.
Hierarchy: Corporations are usually hierarchical, though the structure of the hierarchy varies. Some are relatively flat with a wide layer of middle managers answerable to a few individuals while others are like a pyramid. A very few corporations have a great degree of democracy to them. Ricardo Semmler owns corporations in Brazil but allows all his staff to pick managers and decide strategy. He puts himself up for election as a chief executive.
The Characteristics of not-for-profit (non-Capitalist) Corporate Behaviour
As non-capitalist corporations such as NGO's or charities are not driven by the fundamentals of profit and economic growth, these do not show many of the characteristics of capitalist corporations. The behaviour of non-capitalist corporations is however often influenced by these characteristics of capitalist corporations, in similar ways to the influence of corporate behaviour on individuals. Due to this influence non-capitalist corporations can sometimes be seen to exhibit the characteristics of hierarchy, competition and ephemerality.
The Influence of Corporate Behaviour on Individuals & Society
Due to the dominance of capitalist corporations in Western societies the behaviour of corporations can be seen to have significant impacts on individuals and society. A person or group of people can have links to a corporation or corporations that range from weak to strong, if a person or group of people exhibit corporate behaviour that does not mean the person or group of people is employed by a corporation or corporations. A person or group of people may show corporate behaviour for different lengths of time, for some people they exhibit this behaviour at their place of work; for others it exhibited at work, home and outside the home. Many people display corporate behaviour but do not agree with actions and outcomes that result from it.
The fact that individuals may not agree with the outcomes of corporate behaviour is central to the concept in itself, the characteristics of capitalist corporations do not reflect the characteristics of any individual or group of individuals but are the characteristics required for the survival of capitalist corporations due to the nature of the system within which corporations operate.
Ethics
Under the law, corporations are treated in many ways as persons. However, in other ways, they are not. One example is as follows. The thought of being put in prison acts as a powerful deterrent for most people: it prevents people from committing many crimes. But this powerful deterrent to harming people or society has no effect on a corporation, for a corporation cannot be put in prison.
