Time for brands to start thinking inside the box
John GriffithsPlanning Above and Beyond
The short answer to the question, "Can a brand maximise profit and be a force for good?" is: No, it can't. And it shouldn't try. Profit maximisation is fatally flawed, as Giles Hutchins writes in The Nature of Business. Companies should instead focus on creating value.
Maximisation, taken to its logical conclusion, would make it impossible for the company to continue trading – it's a strategy for winding up a company, not sustaining it. Profit maximisation has led to mass unemployment, pollution and...