Shareholders

Provide short answers (in most cases, one or two sentences should suffice). We often hear that the objective of firms should be to maximize shareholder value. What, if anything, makes shareholders special? In answering this question, stay away from the obvious (but incorrect) answers: a. Shareholders are special because they provide capital. But, debtholders, including banks and bondholders, clearly also provide capital. Moreover, employees provide human capital, while suppliers and vendors provide raw inputs, often with generous credit terms. Even customers, of course, are providing capital through their purchases