There is a great post on Townhall.com today by Ivan Osorio about corporate responsibility. With the recent media coverage of big oil companies, price gouging, Enron trials, etc., the topic of "corporate responsibility" has been on my mind. I get frustrated by society's general lack of understand about a company's role in society -- to create real, long-term value for shareholders -- which can only be done by providing goods and services that benefit society. My frustration doesn't just come from the media, but from friends and neighbors who portray profitable companies as greedy, gouging, and evil.
The article shares a wonderful quote from Nestle's CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe:
"The most important social responsibility that the CEO of a company has...is to be sure that this company will continue to exist 100 years from now." Osorio continues, "Without that long term view, there will be no company from which groups of stakeholders--however defined--can demand 'responsible' behavior."
There's more in the article which you can read for yourself from the link above.
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