Submitted by Andrea Perrault

Assessing the current state of the US economy always interests members and friends of the Ethical Society of Boston. In a recent that appeared on the Huffington Post website, Reich distinguished between the “shareholder” mentality and the “stakeholder” mentality. Given our recent history of increasing economic inequality, and the many dire predictions about our overall ability to thrive as a nation because of it, the distinctions between these two approaches to economic viability are important.

As we are aware, shareholder interest and profitability have been touted widely in recent decades as the key to economic growth – as the shareholders prosper, so does the nation. Except, it doesn’t. Labor Day 2014 brought a new realization thanks to the dramatic success of employees and customers of Market Basket – the stakeholders need to do well, too. And they prevailed in a landmark struggle because they fought relentlessly to save the CEO who lived by this reality.

The negotiation has yet to be completed. Time will tell how effective the strike was in bringing stakeholder interests to the forefront of a broader discussion about change in the thinking of corporate leaders and the public. However, MIT is already planning to build a case study based on the Demoulas’ struggle. We will all be watching to see if there will be a lasting effect. If there is, then perhaps more businesses will adopt the “stakeholder” strategy, and the public will be more active in calling for fairer business practices. From my viewpoint, I’ll be shopping at Market Basket from now on.