By Evan Schmidt
My view is that the primary goal of a business is to help people.
A healthy business should support all of its stakeholders:
Customers: by providing business benefits which far outweigh the costs.
Employees: by rewarding them through compensation, job satisfaction and quality of life.
Owners: by generating a fair profit which encourages future innovation.
Other Stakeholders: by promoting fair business practices which benefit suppliers and communities.
In turn, these stakeholders will support the business and the business will thrive. The stakeholders are like the four corner pillars of a great building. To ignore any one of the pillars will create a lopsided business which is likely to crumble during storms.
Running a business is about helping people. Making money will follow.