The unlinkable BusinessTimes in Singapore has an opinion piece today looking at the stakeholder v's shareholder debate.  Reflecting on discussions at the recent APEC meetings and research in this area, the journalist Wong Wei Kong focusses in on the employees versus shareholders issue.  Two commentators were highlighted for their views: Singapore Labour chief and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say: "'wrap the downturn' in a socially responsible way. 'If you wrap up this downturn wrongly . . . (where) you give consideration only to the stakeholders, you give them more dividends - in some cases special dividends - and neglecting the role of the workers, then in the next downturn, it will be more difficult for them to expect the labour movement to respond accordingly" and Jack Ma, chief executive and chairman of China's Alibaba Group: "it's customers and employees - not shareholders - who matter in times of crisis because shareholders are traders and no longer the long-term supporters of the past. 'So focus on your customers. And, second, rely on your employees. It's your employees, as a team, that make the difference. Employees make all the dreams realised,".

The downturn has meant that how we do business and who for is being questioned at a global level, and as Wei Kong concludes, which I can only echo "It is somewhat ironic that companies that set out to put shareholders first may ultimately end up creating less value for themselves and their shareholders than stakeholder-oriented firms. For the companies paying generous dividends to shareholders while cutting employees' wages, that's something to think about."