In 1970, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman announced his remarkable essay. The headline in the New York Times Magazine article read: “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Said another way, money is the most – if not only – important indicator.
The thesis widely popularized so-called shareholder capitalism. The corporate CEOs work for owners of the business. They have a direct responsibility to their employers, that is, shareholders. In short, the task of the CEO is to make owners rich.
No space for other improvements. From a workable perspective, the proposition even suggests that demanding business leaders to make society better is “beyond their competence and ability.”
