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.
