Companies don't really deserve praise, practically ever because their motives are ultimately guided by profits.
That's not actually true.. it's a caricatured straw-man argument, usually employed by people who want to attack Capitalism in the general sense.
Of course companies have to make a profit to survive; but not all companies ruthlessly optimize every single variable to squeeze out the last $0.0000001 of profit, regardless of the side effects. At the end of the day companies are made up of people, and even if big-shot CEO's tend to have more pyschopathic tendencies than average, they're still human beings. And they usually answer to boards, and are advised by other managers, who are also human beings.
Not saying all companies are noble, virtuous, and pure or anything. But hyperbole in the other direction is just as inaccurate.
That's odd. I usually see that argument employed the opposite way — to dismiss criticisms of companies by suggesting that there is no moral dimension to a corporation's actions, and thus it is unreasonable to ask a company to do anything for the good of society or criticize it for failing to do so, because a corporation's purpose is merely to seek profit.
I agree with you, though. The idea that companies have to be like zombies, mindlessly shambling toward revenue, is false. If a company acts that way, it was a choice on somebody's part, not an immutable law of nature. If somebody in charge decides they want it to act differently, they have that option too.
Don't know why you're being downvoted. Since the 70s people have been throwing around this "corporations must ruthlessly pursue profit and profit alone" idea as is it's a truism. It's not even close to true, neither as normatively or empirically.
That's not actually true.. it's a caricatured straw-man argument, usually employed by people who want to attack Capitalism in the general sense.
Of course companies have to make a profit to survive; but not all companies ruthlessly optimize every single variable to squeeze out the last $0.0000001 of profit, regardless of the side effects. At the end of the day companies are made up of people, and even if big-shot CEO's tend to have more pyschopathic tendencies than average, they're still human beings. And they usually answer to boards, and are advised by other managers, who are also human beings.
Not saying all companies are noble, virtuous, and pure or anything. But hyperbole in the other direction is just as inaccurate.