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Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

businessroundtable.org

61–70 of 211 posts

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#61
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a PR move. I'm stating why they are making the PR move. Why even make the PR move if everything is fine? Why rock the boat if all is well?

What? Corporations have always been spending time & money on PR. Are you asking what the purpose of PR is? I see no reason to assume altruistic motives are involved.

No. I'm asking you what is the purpose of THIS PR move. Every PR move has a reason behind it. You suggested I misunderstood the purpose of it. What, in your opinion, is the purpose of this PR move?

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#62

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

"This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits." So 51% of corporate profits are reserved for the employee bonus pool? And all employees are eligible for said bonuses? It's not hard to come up with examples of where this fails. Don't give me aspirational pie in the sky. Give me operational policy.

This. Whenever someone calls for "fairness" without a formula to calculate I immediately disregard.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#63

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

In a circumstance where bosses are forced to tradeoff between these goals, how should they choose?

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#64

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

In that list only the last point, delivering value to shareholders, is a purpose of a corporation.

A purpose is not the same as something in its interest or that a "nice" corporation might do.

For example, investing in its employees might be in the corporation's interest in order to fulfill its purpose. But a corporation is not created in order to invest in its employees...

This is a PR exercise, as already commented by someone else.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#65

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

Soviet Union had show trials and U.S. has show letters. The legal purpose of a corporation is to generate returns for shareholders. If training employees and helping customers advances that goal, then corporations should do it. Otherwise - no. Goes without saying that corporations should maximize shareholder value using legal means only.

As far as I know the purpose of a corporation is to conduct lawful business. I don’t believe the law says anything about shareholder returns.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#66

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

Most of this is obviously desirable, but the explicit message is "we commit to doing good", with the implicit message being "we can be trusted to do good". The mechanisms which guarantee these promises are wholly unaddressed.

For example, there's no mention of competition or its belief that healthy, fair competition brings about these things. In fact, it's distinctly anti-competitive in the fact that the leadership of all of these companies are behind closed doors coordinating a message like this.

Instead of going to a fancy conference and chumming it up with each other, then patting yourselves on the back about what great people you are, lead by example and hold the others to task. Make the living conditions of your employees better and then attack your competitor for not keeping up. Quit using the latest cultural cause as a marketing stunt and focus on making a better world for your customers and employees. The fact that you wrapped your corporate logo in a pride flag for a month doesn't do a thing to help your employee whose sanity is tested every day by their crappy manager, whether they're gay or not.

And figure out how to still make all this profitable in the long run.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#67

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

"This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits." So 51% of corporate profits are reserved for the employee bonus pool? And all employees are eligible for said bonuses? It's not hard to come up with examples of where this fails. Don't give me aspirational pie in the sky. Give me operational policy.

Should 51% of losses come out of employees pockets?

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#68
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Literally every". I don't think it's fair to tar every business owner and executive with this brush. Yes, there's unethical people, and it's way too common in this business environment. But there's also plenty of businesses that do their very best to treat customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders with respect and fairness.

The issue is the more prevalent this stuff becomes, the more the bad drives out the good. Its the same argument about corrupt police departments, all the good cops either leave, or are forced out by their corrupt co-workers.

That's a different argument and doesn't rely upon hyperbole.

Yes, I've felt pressure in the business environment to do questionable things because my competitors were doing them.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#69

You can be cynical about this, and a healthy amount of skepticism is warranted given the authorship. That said, it would be interesting (healthy?) to discuss/debate the merits of the actual statements: * Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations. * Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them f…

"Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers" omits the responsibility to choose suppliers ethically, as well. The supply chain creates plausible deniability for negative externalities for the consumer, the business they directly interact with, and middlemen down the supply chain. This is one of the biggest problems of global capitalism, today. There's very little accountability.

> "Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers" omits the responsibility to choose suppliers ethically, as well.

Great point! But, if this document is a starting point in Ernest, then as long as this is followed then it's a good start. The next iteration should, then, include a strong commitment to objective fairness in the supplier selection process. Whether or not that actually happens will depend on the commitment to remove corruption in the process.

Re: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

#70
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Corporations have always been spending time & money on PR. Are you asking what the purpose of PR is? I see no reason to assume altruistic motives are involved.

No. I'm asking you what is the purpose of THIS PR move. Every PR move has a reason behind it. You suggested I misunderstood the purpose of it. What, in your opinion, is the purpose of this PR move?

Your statement is wrong because there is no reason to believe or any evidence to support the following statement:

> The point of this statement is to signal to the public, that the elite are ready to give them what they want and understand that the inequality is unsustainable. They are prepared to make concessions now and it's up to the public to take them.

Corporations suddenly wanting to tackle inequality and make 'concessions to the public'? That's not a reason for this PR move, that's corporate fairytale.

> I gave a reason for the PR move. I'm curious why you think my reason is wrong?

You did not give any reason other than exactly what the architect of this PR move would expect a very gullible person to interpret this as.

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