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Strictly speaking, businesses, especially those of the corporate kind have no other primary goal other than to obtain profit for its shareholders. �This generalization would appear harsh and negative but when taken in the right context, one will eventually realize the truth to it. �Shareholders invest their money with the expectation that it will earn profit and that is but natural. �If a person would want to help others without anything in return, there are many charity organizations which could handle such calling.

A business cannot survive without any profit, much less provide its shareholders with commensurate reason to put in their money and accept the risks entailed. �Profit-earning businesses will have more staying power and can provide benefits not only to shareholders but also to employees, suppliers, and the general public. �It is necessary for any economic business to earn its required profit to make it a productive venture and there is no quarrel in the premise that without profit, a business does not have any way to go but down.

That said, should businesses therefore not strive to achieve anything more than gaining profit? �We all know the answer to this since there is life for a business beyond profit. �A person or group of persons who start a business will usually have other reasons for going into it. �They may believe in a particular product or service or they may be out to prove the worth of �such product or service. �Going into business may be a continuance of a family or community tradition. �It may also be done in the furtherance of a certain cause.

Somewhere in the general goals of a business is a vision that is positive and not merely self-centered. �This is true no matter the size of the business. �When a business cannot go beyond profit, it may survive but it can never be anything more than a business to the public’s eye.

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