Opening Our Eyes to the Blind Pursuit of Profit – Adjusting Attitudes on Corporate Governance

Abstract

“The great public companies of today owe a duty, not only to their shareholders to make a profit, but to the people amongst whom they live and work, to do their best for them. Every responsible shareholder recognises this.” There is a compelling logic to this, after all, if a company pursues only maximum profit at the expense of its employees, customers and others in the broader community, it will eventually find itself the engineer of its own destruction. Yet, even though Lord Denning wrote the above in 1969, specifically addressing his points to Australian business interests, 50 years on it would seem his view has not been heeded.