City Research Online

Abstract

The shareholder primacy model has come under increasing scrutiny in recent decades, particularly in light of climate change and other pressing global crises, with companies now expected to address the interests of a wider range of stakeholders. Stakeholder governance has thus emerged as a promising alternative model. While many jurisdictions are exploring pathways to advance more stakeholder-oriented governance models, the recent amendments to China's Company Law presents a particularly noteworthy example. This paper critically examines its newly introduced stakeholder-oriented provisions, including the mandated consideration of stakeholder interests, enhanced employee engagement requirements such as the implementation of workforce directors and adjustments to shareholders’ rights and directors’ duties. The paper analyses whether, and to what extent, these reforms represent a shift away from the shareholder primacy model as it was traditionally dominant in China. The paper makes two further contributions: first, it explores potential pathways for future reform to strengthen stakeholder-oriented governance in China; and second, it highlights lessons that can be learned to operationalise stakeholder governance for other jurisdictions.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	China, employee engagement, new Company Law, shareholder primacy, stakeholder governance, stakeholderism, workforce director
Subjects:	J Political Science > JX International law K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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