ESG의 ‘G’의 새로운 구축을 위한 상법을 주축으로 한 기업의 욕망에 관한 소고

ESG is an undoubted demand of the times, and people who dislike capitalism or have experienced/witnessed economic inequality want companies to share social values rather than profits on their own and for companies to independently redistribute wealth. An approach to the essential understanding of desire determines the direction in the areas of education, law, and policy, but in corporate law, a fundamental approach to shareholders’ desires from a philosophical perspective and corporate desires consisting of shareholders’ desires is a rather difficult topic. The question arises: Is it possible to question the relationship between the desires of shareholders (investors) and the desires of the company from an ESG perspective? Are the owners of the company shareholders? Is it a company? The direction of research discussed in this paper starts from the following questions. The company belongs to shareholders (capitalists). This study aims to answer the question, “How can something come from something that is contrary to itself?” First, what is ESG?; Second, what is corporate governance? ?, Third, what is the company’s desire? Fourth, what is the desire of humans (shareholders-agents)? Fifth, what is an appropriate way to regulate the agent’s desires? The purpose is to construct a question, present an answer, and find an answer to this question. Through this, it is revealed that corporate desires arise from shareholders, and that under capitalism, based on Lacan’s theory of desire, they are infinitely flexible, but cannot be divided or destroyed, and desires that exist in the unconscious are difficult to transform/change. Although ESG imposes environmental, social, and corporate governance responsibilities on companies, these responsibilities will only lead to piecemeal performance and increased corporate and consumer/social costs unless the desire structure of shareholders and corporations is understood. Second, it will only bring profits to specific companies or managers through the establishment of a new business model for companies. Third, the government will use its enormous capital power and coercion to force companies to fulfill their obligations to the people and society. It should be taken into account that imposing institutional/procedural coercion may hinder a company’s management performance and purposefulness. If a company’s marketing strategy through green washing is successful and profits are generated, the company will not only promote continuity and sustainability, but will also not pass on costs to consumers. If you only increase the company’s costs, not only will you not be able to receive shareholder approval, but the directors/representatives who increased the costs may even be dismissed. Companies must know exactly that this is so. In addition, I hope that Korean society will think more deeply about the question of how well companies can fulfill the public and public interests that the state should be responsible for, across the areas of the company’s birth, role, and activities.