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Only one in ten US business leaders favour views of their companies’
roles that focus mainly on the search for profit, according to a new
survey.
The poll asked 48 chief and senior executives from 27 US-based multinationals to choose which of several written statements best described how business relates to society. Only ten per cent picked statements focusing on the pursuit of profit, while two-thirds chose statements acknowledging that non-financial factors are also significant.
The most popular choice was that ‘in pursuing private profit, companies should take care to protect the environment, uphold the rights of workers, and be a good neighbour to communities’. Respondents included leaders of Apache Oil, Ernst & Young, GE, IBM, Nestlé, Raytheon and Timberland.
Bradley Googins, executive director of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, which conducted the study, claimed the results show that few chief executives now accept the notion that their companies should be solely concerned with creating wealth for investors.
The poll asked 48 chief and senior executives from 27 US-based multinationals to choose which of several written statements best described how business relates to society. Only ten per cent picked statements focusing on the pursuit of profit, while two-thirds chose statements acknowledging that non-financial factors are also significant.
The most popular choice was that ‘in pursuing private profit, companies should take care to protect the environment, uphold the rights of workers, and be a good neighbour to communities’. Respondents included leaders of Apache Oil, Ernst & Young, GE, IBM, Nestlé, Raytheon and Timberland.
Bradley Googins, executive director of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, which conducted the study, claimed the results show that few chief executives now accept the notion that their companies should be solely concerned with creating wealth for investors.
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