Charles Handy article explaining that a company is for both itself and society. Handy argues that, contrary to traditional interpretations, companies do not exist for profit, but to generate profit in order to continue to do things or make things. He proceeds to dispel two prominent myths, the first, that profit is the purpose of a business, the second, that shareholders own the business. As an alternative, Handy remarks that he perceives a company as a hexagon, surrounded by competing pressures from financiers, employees, customers, suppliers, the environment, and the community. He then contends that an ‘existential corporation’ should be the result of these competing forces, that being an organization whose principal purpose is to fulfill itself. Following this model, the corporation would owe something to each of the six components without being owned by any of them. This model, in practice, would permit the company to have a purpose and aim beyond itself and the pursuit of increasing profits.
Handy, Charles B London Business School Shanks, Michael African National Congress Blackwell Business Michael Shanks Memorial Lecture Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (Great Britain)
Source
Charles Handy article explaining that a company is for both itself and society, 1993; Charles Handy Papers; Box 14, Folder 18; 10 pages
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