Over the past decade, interest in socially responsible business has grown exponentially. The social business movement seeks to have firms focus on the interests of all corporate stakeholders, rather than solely the financial interests of shareholders. Coupled with the social business movement of the past decade has been the passage of social enterprise statutes by over thirty states. The social enterprise statutes provide legal frameworks for firms that seek profit alongside broader social and environmental ends. A plethora of social enterprise legal forms have been created in the United States since 2008, including benefit corporations, public benefit corporations, benefit LLCs, low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), general benefit corporations, specific benefit corporations, sustainable business corporations, and social purpose corporations. Despite the interest in social business and the passage of numerous social enterprise laws, the basic corporate governance framework has stayed largely the same. In both socially-focused traditional companies and in newly formed social enterprises, the corporate governance system is one that empowers directors, officers, and shareholders, but largely ignores other stakeholders such as employees, customers, vendors, creditors, the environment, and the community at large. This Article explores the shortcomings of the current corporate governance framework, reveals inadequacies in previous proposals to focus firms on all stakeholders, and proposes a stakeholder advisory board as a solution. As proposed, the stakeholder advisory board will give all major stakeholders a more direct voice in firm governance and will grant more stakeholders limited but significantly powers, without harmfully disrupting the efficiency of the board of directors. If adopted, the stakeholder advisory board will better align the corporate governance framework with the recent social business movement by including representatives of all stakeholder groups in decision-making. This proposal suggests mandating adoption of a stakeholder advisory board for large social enterprises, and encourages the voluntary adoption of a stakeholder advisory board by all firms that take their social commitments seriously.

中文翻译：

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采纳利益相关者咨询委员会

在过去的十年中，对社会责任型业务的兴趣呈指数增长。社会商业运动试图使公司关注所有公司利益相关者的利益，而不是仅仅关注股东的财务利益。在过去的十年中，伴随着社会企业运动的发展，三十多个州通过了社会企业法规。社会企业法规为寻求利润以及更广泛的社会和环境目标的公司提供了法律框架。自2008年以来，美国已经建立了多种社会企业法律形式，包括福利公司，公益组织，福利有限责任公司，低利润有限责任公司（L3C），一般福利公司，特定福利公司，可持续商业公司，和社会目的公司。尽管人们对社会商业产生了兴趣，并且通过了许多社会企业法律，但基本的公司治理框架基本保持不变。在以社会为重点的传统公司和新成立的社会企业中，公司治理系统都是一种赋予董事，高级管理人员和股东权力的系统，但在很大程度上忽略了其他利益相关者，例如员工，客户，供应商，债权人，环境和社区大体上。本文探讨了当前公司治理框架的不足之处，揭示了先前将公司集中于所有利益相关者的提议中的不足之处，并提出了利益相关者咨询委员会作为解决方案。按照提议 利益相关者咨询委员会将使所有主要利益相关者在公司治理方面具有更直接的发言权，并将在不损害董事会效率的前提下授予更多利益相关者有限但重要的权力。如果采纳，利益相关者咨询委员会将通过让所有利益相关者团体的代表参与决策，来更好地使公司治理框架与最近的社会商业运动保持一致。该建议建议强制要求大型社会企业采用利益相关者咨询委员会，并鼓励所有认真对待社会承诺的公司自愿采用利益相关者咨询委员会。利益相关者顾问委员会将通过让所有利益相关者团体的代表参与决策，来更好地使公司治理框架与最近的社会商业运动保持一致。该建议建议强制要求大型社会企业采用利益相关者咨询委员会，并鼓励所有认真对待社会承诺的公司自愿采用利益相关者咨询委员会。利益相关者顾问委员会将通过让所有利益相关者团体的代表参与决策，来更好地使公司治理框架与最近的社会商业运动保持一致。该建议建议强制要求大型社会企业采用利益相关者咨询委员会，并鼓励所有认真对待社会承诺的公司自愿采用利益相关者咨询委员会。