Do businesses have a responsibility beyond profit?

Teaching business responsibilities earlier this week I split the class in two and put the following statement on the whiteboard:"Business is all about profit. Nothing else matters."Students were given 10 minutes to prepare their key arguments and anticipate those of the other side. The debate then began and it didn't take long for it to get fairly heated. Of course, I threw a few comments in myself to stir it up a little....

This debate provided the perfect opportunity to get the students to identify and develop key issues and hone their ability to think critically, structure an argument and defend a position which they may themselves disagree with.

Today I spotted this podcast of a recent Biz Daily episode on the same issue. It seems that the debate was also quite heated in the studio....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bizdaily

I recommend you have a listen and encourage your students to do so. This is an argument that will run and run and there is so much discussion material when looking at profit motives, stakeholders, shareholder value and shareholder influence.