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Working with Purpose, Forever

hakaimagazine.com

21–30 of 74 posts

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#21

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

I think you need memorandum and articles of association to incorporate a company in most places. And those documents state the purpose and type of activity the company can engage in.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Zeiss too?

Possibly even better, the Zeiss Foundation seems to fund wider science and teaching using the profits from the companies they own: "Carl Zeiss AG and SCHOTT AG use the dividends to promote science and teaching in the fields of mathematics, computer science, the natural sciences and technology." https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en/about-zeiss/present/facts...

Interesting you find this "even better", I agree with you, though I found that to be a pretty hard sell to the crowd typically interested in purpose-owned companies, they tend to think smaller, more local, more direct impact.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#25

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

VCs only want profitable companies so that they can get that sweet sweet exit payday. CEOs of larger, listed corps are competing in the same markets as startups and so are forced to pursue the same or risk looking like they're failing in the market.

Ultimately everyone(customers, employees, the company, longer term investors) loses except the investors who are able to influence the company's direction and priorities.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#26

> A Perpetual Purpose Trust (PPT) is a legal and organizational structure that allows a company to operate with a focus on achieving their overarching goal of creating purpose or impact rather than focusing on maximizing profits alone. Patagonia and Bosch are the well known examples of this ownership structure.

As mentioned in the article. Anything to add?

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#27

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

You can form companies with all kinds of specific purposes, however, if you want to attract investors (or even attract general public investment by being a publicly traded ompany), then don't be surprised if most investors want to invest in companies whose explicit purpose is making money for the investors.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#28

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

VCs only want profitable companies so that they can get that sweet sweet exit payday. CEOs of larger, listed corps are competing in the same markets as startups and so are forced to pursue the same or risk looking like they're failing in the market. Ultimately everyone(customers, employees, the company, longer term investors) loses except the investors who are able to influence the company's direction and priorities.

And in a world without value investing then everyone loses.

Profitable companies must be providing valuable goods and services to customers.

In the long run the customer is king.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#29

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

I think you need memorandum and articles of association to incorporate a company in most places. And those documents state the purpose and type of activity the company can engage in.

But I don't think they're typically the sort of thing that would ever be finished, unless maybe the entire industry becomes obsolete.

Re: Working with Purpose, Forever

#30

Call me crazy, but the idea that a company can be formed with no purpose other than to make a profit strikes me as somewhat perverse and malign. All companies should exist for a specific purpose, and when that is achieved (or no longer needed, or no longer possible), they should be wound up.

Literally every job I've ever had I've done with no purpose other than to make a profit.

It's up to the people buying my labour to decide whether it's useful for them, we're not all the same.

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