Profit Is Not The Purpose Of Enterprise

7. In capitalism, most businesses have a profit motive. Describe at least one reason that businesses with a profit motive may be helpful for society and at least one reason that they may be harmful for society. Then, explain whether you think profit motive is a good thing or a bad thing for society. (4-7 sentences. 2.0 points)

7. In capitalism, most businesses have a profit motive. Describe at least one reason that businesses with a profit motive may be helpful for society and at least one reason that they may be harmful for society. Then, explain whether you think profit motive is a good thing or a bad thing for society. (4-7 sentences. 2.0 points)

Enron was an energy trading and communications company located in Houston, Texas. During 1996-2001 Enron was given the name of America’s Most Innovative Company by Fortune magazine as it was the seventh-largest corporation in the US. The problem that led this company to bankruptcy was due to the fact that fraudulent accounting practices took place allowing Enron to overstate their earnings and tuck away their high debt liabilities in order to have a more appealing balance sheet (Forbes.com, 2002). Enron’s accounting team “cooked” the books to every meaning of the word so that their investors would not see anything wrong with the failing organization. This poorly structured company led people to jail time, unemployment, and caused retirement stocks to be dried up. Enron had a social responsibility to its stockholders and rather than being up front and honest about the failing company they hid every financial flaw in order to keep receiving money from its investors. By Enron not keeping a social

Enron had the largest bankruptcy in America’s history and it happened in less than a year because of scandals and manipulation Enron displayed with California’s energy supply. A few years ago, Enron was the world’s 7th largest corporation, valued at 70 billion dollars. At that time, Enron’s business model was full of energy and power. Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling had raised Enron to stand on a culture of greed, lies, and fraud, coupled with an unregulated accounting system, which caused Enron to go down. Lies were being told by top management to the government, its employees and investors. There was a rise in Enron 's share price because of pyramid scheme; their strategy consisted of claiming so much money to easily get away with their tricky ways. They deceived their investors so they could keep investing their money in the company.

7. In capitalism, most businesses have a profit motive. Describe at least one reason that businesses with a profit motive may be helpful for society and at least one reason that they may be harmful for society. Then, explain whether you think profit motive is a good thing or a bad thing for society. (4-7 sentences. 2.0 points) At least one reason businesses with profit motive is helpful is because

Profit is the money that a business earns in revenue, minus investments, and the cost of salaries.

The expectation that businesses behave responsibly and positively contribute to society all while pursuing their economic goals is one that holds firm through all generations. Stakeholders, both market and nonmarket, expect businesses to be socially responsible. Many companies have responded to this by including this growing expectation as part of their overall business operations. There are companies in existence today whose sole purpose is to socially benefit society alongside businesses who simply combine social benefits with their economic goals as their company mission. These changes in societal expectations and thus company purpose we’ve seen in the business community over time often blurs the line of what it means to be socially

The story of Enron is truly remarkable. As a company it merely controlled the electricity, natural gas and communications sectors of the world. It reported (key word, reported) revenues over one hundred billion US dollars and was presented America’s Most Innovative Company by Fortune magazine for six sequential years. But, with power comes greed and Enron from its inception employed people who set their eyes upon money, prestige, power or a combination of the three. The gluttony took over sectors which the company could not operate proficiently nor successfully.

Over the past decade, senior executives from large corporations such as Enron were found to use unethical practices and standards in the workplace for personal gain. Incidences such as Enron have affected society as a whole, whether directly or indirectly. The behaviors of these corporate officials has resulted in the loss of employee pension plans and contributed to the economic downturn of the world.

Enron’s ride is quite a phenomenon: from a regional gas pipeline trader to the largest energy trader in the world, and then back down the hill into bankruptcy and disgrace. As a matter of fact, it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (world-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that were raised from the documentation Enron: The Smartest Guys

Consideration of social responsibility is an important concern for the successful operation of a business. A business can be structured with the sole intention of maximizing profit, or it can be structured in a way in which social obligation beyond profit is considered. The two opposing views are introduced by Ferdinand Tonnies in The Argument, and correspond to his concepts of Gemeinschaft and Gesselschaft (Tonnies, Ferdinand "The Argument” from Community and Civil Society) The opposing nature of

The case study is about Enron and about their biggest failure that lead the company towards bankruptcy. Enron got bankrupt to the extent that was no point of returning back and reversing its wrong doings. The only thing that the company had to think about was how to return the losses of its creditors. Enron Corp. was left with $12 billion in assets which was to be distributed among more than 20,000 creditors. Around 80% of creditors of Enron backed the long-awaited reorganization plan of the company. Creditors were seeking to recover more than $1200 billion. According to Stephen F. Cooper, who was the interim chief executive officer of the company said that only $67 billion was the justified amount. The amount of assets that was available to creditors could grow if the management of Enron succeeded with the mega-claim against financial institutions and leading banks that helped the organization in creating complex deals which helped it inflate cash flow and hide debt (Niskanen, 2005).

Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue

Enron Corporation was an energy company founded in Omaha, Nebraska. The corporation chose Houston, Texas to home its headquarters and staffed about 20,000 people. It was one of the largest natural gas and electricity providers in the United States, and even the world. In the 1990’s, Enron was widely considered a highly innovative, financially booming company, with shares trading at about $90 at their highest points. Little did the public know, the success of the company was a gigantic lie, and possibly the largest example of white-collar crime in the history of business.

Companies with extensive responsibilities even argue about the system in pursuing social responsibility of business. According to Ulrich Steger, the company should prioritize the shareholders’ incessant interest but they should also be concerned of their social responsibilities, morals and environmental goals that the public expects them to be. Without a doubt, companies’ primary goal is to earn a profit. Emphasizing on profitability affects the fundamental values in the company, its morality. Companies ignore the ethics just to earn a mountainous income. This often causes extensive repercussions in the companies.