If you ask the owner, I bet you get a pretty clear answer.
But since we are in the streets debating this, I am wondering what folks here think. I think this is more important as we give more and more deciding power to those outside of firms on how firms should or are required to be run. It is even more important as we train the next generation not to succeed outright, but to become good workers for these companies we are debating the operations of (both on the street, in our living rooms and in our legislative bodies).
A guy or a girl starts a company, because as with everything these days, it interacts with others, thus everyone feels they have a say.
What is your say, what is a company for? What is it's purpose or role in society? What does it replace in regards to past institutions of survival/community/govt?
A company is formed to make the owners money and that is that.
Try to make into a facility for social engineering and you get what we got here, companies having to wade through reams of rules and regulations on the legal way to run a business.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Who is in the streets debating what a company is for? OWS is protesting large banks and investment firms that have swindled the citizens of the US out of the treasury with the help of the last two treasury secretaries.
What is a company for? It depends upon the stage of development of that particular company. A startup will emphasize profitability, and a mature/larger company will include the happiness and welfare of its employees, community enrichment and responsibility, while maintaining profitability. And one must consider that there are many complimentary directions that a company will try to emphasize. Companies are complex and their effect cannot be measured in a black/white assessment.
