What is corporate america

These causes and foundations can vary, from religious to scientific, or even promoting environmental awareness. Corporations are typically owned and controlled by their members. For-profit corporations are, by nature, interested in maximizing shareholder value. In doing so, a government would be able to minimize account deficits or improve its overall account surplus. The theory of mercantilism urged national constraint and self-reliance. At its core, mercantilism was a zero-sum game, made up of winners and losers on a global scale.

The mercantilist theory began to give way to the theory of free trade and a laissez-faire policy from the government. This policy follows that the government will not discriminate or interfere with imports or exports from its country. Free trade policies look to promote the trade of goods and services between countries without taxes or tariffs. Also, free trade policies minimize trade-distortions between countries and allow for less regulated access to markets and market information.

As free trade policies were being enacted, so was the definition of a corporation, as defined by Stewart Kyd , who was the author of the first treaty on corporate law in England. He states that a corporation is simply:.

The theory of free trade and laissez-faire policies eventually gave way to free-market theory. A free-market system is one in which the prices of goods and services are self-regulated.

Essentially, the market and the consumer, entity, company, or corporation purchasing the goods or services will determine a price based on their willingness to buy.

If goods or services are priced too high, no consumer will buy them. Free market systems have evolved into specific forms of capitalism, the dominant economic theory in the United States. This accumulation of wealth is the implicit purpose for all or most production. Accumulation of capital can be achieved in various ways, including trading time or labor for wages or utilizing private capital for further production, which can be sold on the open market.

Besides, within a capitalist system, individuals can invest their worth to make a profit. This profit motive is most likely to be found in for-profit corporations that look to increase shareholder value. The above laid down the groundwork for modern-day American capitalism and corporate motive. In essence, the corporate motive has become the maximization of corporate wealth and profit for shareholders through legal means.

Though illegal means are sometimes employed and somewhat prevalent in specific industries, large multi-national corporations typically err on the side of caution and legality in order to avoid regulatory suspicion and inquiry. Corporate America in, its purest definition, is simply a collection of corporations that echo a capitalistic ethos of profit above all else.

JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. Search DASH. This Collection. Submitters Login Quick submit Waiver Generator. Author Bowie, Nikolas. They call into question narrow economic theories of the firm, and show instead that the corporation must be treated as a more fully social institution, pointing the way to a new periodization of corporate history and a new set of questions for scholars to explore.

Key issues engaged include the legal and political position of the corporations, ways in which the corporation has shaped and been shaped by American culture, controversies over corporate regulation and corporate power, and the efforts of minority and disadvantaged groups to gain access to corporate resources and opportunities.

Keywords: political economy , business history , economic history , business culture , corporation , entrepreneurship , corporate law. David B. Sicilia, editor University of Maryland Author Webpage. Forgot password? Don't have an account? All Rights Reserved. OSO version 0. University Press Scholarship Online.