Business Roundtable
[2] In 2019, the BRT redefined its definition of the purpose of a corporation as participating in stakeholder capitalism, putting the interests of employees, customers, suppliers, and communities on par with shareholders.
The BRT's board members include, as of 2024, chair Chuck Robbins of Cisco (CEO); former White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten; Mary Barra of General Motors; Tim Cook of Apple; and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase.
[12] Harper was the newly founded group's first president, followed by Thomas Murphy of General Motors, Irving Shapiro of DuPont, then Clifford Garvin of Exxon.
"[14] On August 19, 2019, the BRT redefined its decades-old definition of the purpose of a corporation, replacing its bedrock principle that shareholder interests must be placed above all else, as defined in 1970 by conservative economist and Nobel economics laureate Milton Friedman[15] and promoted during the 1980s in the teachings and writings of economist Alfred Rappaport; the shareholder value theory was widely adopted in 20th century North American boardrooms.
[16] The BRT statement, signed by nearly 200 chief executive officers from major U.S. corporations in 2019, makes a "fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders", including customers, employees, suppliers and local communities.
Citicorp CEO, John Reed, chairperson of the Roundtables Accounting Task Force, argued that Clinton's plan would have had negative effects on U.S. competitiveness.
In June 2018, Business Roundtable issued a statement urging the White House "Administration to end immediately the policy of separating accompanied minors from their parents," and condemned the practice as "cruel and contrary to American values."
"[25] The letter concluded that the Business Roundtable "supports efforts to increase transparency in the derivatives markets and enhance financial stability for the U.S. economy through thoughtful new regulation while avoiding needless costs.
"[25] Together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, in 2021, the BRT lobbied House and Senate Democrats "against raising taxes on corporations, high-income earners and small businesses" to finance the Build Back Better initiative proposed by President Joe Biden.
[33] Former U.S. secretary of labor and professor of public policy at Berkeley University, Robert Reich, accused both corporate social responsibility, and the Business Roundtable's commitment to it, of being a "con".
Citing BRT members Jeff Bezos, Mary Barra and Dennis Muilenburg, Reich criticized their respective companies' recent decisions: Whole Foods, an Amazon subsidiary, announced the intention to cut medical benefits for its entire part-time workforce; Mary Barra, despite GM's hefty profits and large tax breaks, rejected worker's demands that GM raise their wages and stop outsourcing their jobs; and Muilenburg, who, as Reich predicted,[34] would depart Boeing with $62 million in compensation and pension benefits, despite the Boeing 737 MAX groundings.
