“Recently the Business Roundtable, which is an organization meant “to help build a strong and sustainable economic future in the United States,” changed their mission.”
I suspect the announcement was totally political in an attempt to divert the growing contempt by lower and middle income workers toward max-profit motivated corporations.
“The sole purpose of any business should be profit and wealth maximization. In other words, shareholders welfare should be the only concern of the management of a business.”
Survival should be a priority for any business. If the increasing recognition of the decreasing ability of lower and middle income workers to accumulate wealth results in civil unrest and eventual disorder the chance of business survival decreases. Shareholder welfare may be the only concern of max-profit corporations because board directors may be sued by shareholders if they direct otherwise. However, there are other forms of business that may not be max-profit motivated: benefit corporations; non-profit corporations; employee owned businesses; and worker cooperatives.
I agree with Nathanael Blake who stated in a recent article that “the task of conservatism is not to defend free-market orthodoxy at all costs, but to enable ordinary men and women to flourish and lead fulfilling lives.”
“The marketplace makes the decision regarding what products to produce, what price to set for the products, what quantity should be made and if any changes are needed, based almost entirely on the size of the profit.”
You’ve forgotten to consider quality of the products. Many consumers are willing to pay more for a quality product vs a cheap, unreliable, marginal product.
“If consumers will only buy products from companies known to treat their employees well, the corporations will treat their employees the way the customers expect.”
There seems to be a growing number of businesses with less emphasis on profit and increased emphasis on reduction of environmental impact and other social issues. Patagonia’s mission statement is to “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” I prefer to purchase groceries from employee owned Publix stores instead Walmart because the shopping experience is much less frustrating.
