Brian,
Some food for thought....
I have always shared in Peter Drucker's opinion that profit is part of the
cost of doing business and not the reason for doing business. A business
that focuses only on profit quickly becomes too short-sighted and
narrow-minded to remain sustainable over time. As for setting corporate
sights on the greater good, Ronald Coase's economic theory provides
critical insight: the sole purpose (and societal role) of a business
venture is to remove or eliminate friction from the transactions which
occur between and among parties within the marketplace. Also, a company
possesses no soul and is not a thing which engenders trust. Those are the
exclusive province of the people within the organization--corporations are
merely tools--legal fictions--which people use to realize their personal
aims and objectives.
Cheers, Arnold
--"Arnold Wytenburg" <arnold@originalthinking.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>