Purpose vs profit—what is the role of the company?

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What are companies for? Do they exist solely to make a profit, or should firms pursue some higher purpose, to make the world a better place? TamzinBooth investigates in our “Money talks” podcast

as a means to address social injustice, climate change and inequality is sweeping the Western business world.

How much is this trend of “reverse Friedmanism” going to change what it means to do business? Or could chief executives playing politics have dangerous consequences? Tamzin Booth hosts. Runtime: 27 min

 

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tamzinbooth thecorporation documentary

tamzinbooth An interesting observation in a world where serving the consumers has become secondary and it's now all about ripping huge profits after huge profits...

tamzinbooth They exist to exploit wage labor for profit, duh. You bourgeois economists still trying to figure this out? Marx figured it out over 150 years ago.

tamzinbooth Profit. Then other stuff.

tamzinbooth The purpose or mission of a company is delivering products or services to customers to fulfill their needs, or potential needs, such that the benefits have been perceived as unique. If you are doing that well, you can make money. No need or not being unique, no company anymore.

tamzinbooth .... if we look back into the past we were describing that business is to earn maximum profit, actually it was the definition but, a lot of businessmen have changed their scope and corresponding with maximum generation of employment; they're becoming non-stop!

tamzinbooth Imagine better paying robust smaller businesses with no major corporations putting them out of business, manipulating Washington, leeching funds from the Fed and driving wages and quality into the ground with imports and foreign parts/labor. More options and variety.

tamzinbooth Should firms pursue some higher purpose from day one or when they hit a certain target? Doesn't it all come down to individuals in a firm?

tamzinbooth Sigh. I know I'm old, not by the grey in my beard, but by you're successful peddling of this tripe to the innocent.

tamzinbooth If corporations don't make a profit, they fail. If they don't have a larger purpose, they can happily survive. In fact they can do vast harm to millions and grow at an alarming rate. It's that simple.

tamzinbooth Unfortunately even places of worship are mainly concerned with money; this is far fetched.

tamzinbooth Firms Mirror Society So Let's All Save Fruit Seeds & Grow Fruit Trees Everywhere Literally & Figuratively Along with School Kids2 Sensitize Genext& Grow Globally 46 Billion Fruit Trees/YR SEQUESTER NOURISH ENRICH & ENLIGHTEN.!! COMMUNITY ACTION FOR COMPASSION HARMONY & GROWTH.!!

tamzinbooth Some dream to make profit, some want fame others want to change the world

tamzinbooth Maybe one day everyone will magically do the right thing and then we'll finally have good capitalism. Or we could just get rid of the profit motive and build a better world.

tamzinbooth Is this really a question? And the way it is framed: 'solely to make profit' or 'some higher purpose'? (From a publication that is behind a paywall...)

tamzinbooth What has happened to the economist?

tamzinbooth The mandate of every good company is to make money so that they can expand, provide employment and benefit from the rewards of their labour, anyone who tells you different is a liar.

tamzinbooth Role of business: serve markets. Role of government: make sure markets and businesses serve humanity. HumanityFirst Yang2020

tamzinbooth Purposive behavior 😇

tamzinbooth I can’t see that the two are mutually exclusive

tamzinbooth The mean of businesses is business :p

tamzinbooth Profit.

tamzinbooth Machine based thinking.

tamzinbooth They start with a purpose. Then they get turned into money machines by your financial system

tamzinbooth Mastercard zingales_it ProfBainbridge OK, it works like this: Corporations are legal persons. They exist ONLY because we have laws that allow their creation. They are BEHOLDEN to those laws. Laws come of SOCIETY, the PEOPLE. If corps f* with us, we change or apply laws and SMACK THEM DOWN. Let´s get smacking.

tamzinbooth Mastercard zingales_it ProfBainbridge Not as much as the people who use their services or products.....just because a company sells rat poison doesn't mean if just because YOU identify your significant other as a rat it's ok to sprinkle it in their coffee....also, if you think a product causes harm, don't buy, if

tamzinbooth Mastercard zingales_it ProfBainbridge So long as they function under an economic system that rewards profit before anything else this question will remain wholly irrelevant; any capitalist that tries to hold themselves to any altruistic principles beyond token gestures will be undercut by someone more ruthless

tamzinbooth Mastercard zingales_it ProfBainbridge Maybe this conversation is a decade too late?

tamzinbooth To Do So Let's All Save Fruit Seeds & Grow Fruit Trees Everywhere Literally and Figuratively Along with School Kids to Sensitize Genext& Grow Globally 46 Billion Fruit Trees/YR SEQUESTER NOURISH ENRICH & ENLIGHTEN.!! THROUGH SCHOOL & COMMUNITY ACTION.!! IT'S POSSIBLE & NEEDED.!!

alllibertynews tamzinbooth Money used in helping needy is money used well.

tamzinbooth They exist for whatever the owner of that company wants them to exist for. It’s not up to the Economist, it’s not up to cry baby progressives, not everything has to be woke

tamzinbooth Every genius from SteveJobs to JohnDRockefeller NOT a ONE EVER said: 'Go make oodles of money.' Every one of the greats said—find your passion, your great idea, & pursue it greatly if you want to be great.

tamzinbooth MONEY! All else is totalitarian coercive utopian drivel.

tamzinbooth On the KPMG course I attended (a few years ago mind), making a profit wasn't 1, 'being in business tomorrow' was 1. Anyone can make a quick, often unethical, buck but sustainable business shoukd be the goal. jm2cw.

tamzinbooth Can a company exist without making profits while losing money? If existentials demand certain behaviour it is fair to say it fits within the model to make profit

tamzinbooth Mastercard zingales ProfBainbridge Of course!

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