What is the Business of Business?

Introduction

Business is simple,” says a recent Fortune article. “Take capital, invest it so that you can make more money than the capital costs, and return the difference to your stockholders. Piece of cake.” 1 The article goes on to list the lessons that some of the 100 fastest growing corporations in the United States have to teach the rest of the business community: be creative in your financing and leverage almost everything you’ve got; invest in training your staff in order to ensure quality work and retain key people; hold back growth if necessary in order to ensure that your production base is sound; be willing to take huge risks. Pretty conventional stuff, actually. Premised on the idea that capital is intrinsically economic, the article more or less just describes ways to make more money for those who have already invested money.

Complete document

pdf What is the Business of Business? William A. Ninacs 1998William A. Ninacs, What is the Business of Business?, Making Waves, Vol. 9, N° 1, 19-22, 1998