‘Social profit orientation’ can help companies and nonprofits alike do more good in the world

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Leonard L. Berry, Texas A&M University; Lerzan Aksoy, Fordham University, and Tracey Danaher, Monash University

(THE CONVERSATION) Economist Milton Friedman’s influential maxim, that a company’s sole obligation is to maximize profits, is outdated. Many companies have voluntarily integrated social concerns into their business operations through corporate social responsibility, or CSR, policies for years.

More recently, some companies have broadened their notion of what’s required of them beyond a traditional CSR approach by adopting what’s known as environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies that can be more appropriate for confronting challenges that go beyond the social realm, such as climate change.

What happens when a company or a nonprofit operating at a national or global scale commits to improving the well-being of people and the planet? Does that...