Should Money be the only reason that corporations exist?

Question

this is homework, ladies and gentlemen..(blecchhh)
please help or i'm gonna be in BIG TROUBLE on monday :(

Answer 1

Earning money is the main purpose of corporations as they have financial responsibility to their investors and shareholders.

But many corporations now understand their social responsibility. Aside from tax shelter reasons, many companies nowadays are realizing that they have social roles to play. In fact, there's a recent article in Kiplinger Magazine on the stellar performance of mutual funds focusing on social issues.

Many businesses now realize that being perceived by the public as "socially responsible" is good for the bottomline, and hence many have corporate gift giving departments to promote such activities. Examples are

Dell Foundation http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/foundation/en/index?c=us&l=en&s=corp
Recipients are 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and objective is to address the health and human services, the education, and the technology access for youth.

Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/citizenship/giving/
Provides support to Community-Based Technology and Learning Center (CTLC) organizations including Nonprofit—in the United States, 501(c)(3) designation—or a nongovernmental organization; Government funded and operated—a nonprofit organization that receives government funding or is a partner with a governmental; and schools.

Philip Morris http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/our_initiatives/community_involvement.asp
Provides financial and in-kind contributions to local organizations, and through sponsorship of community events. Again, applicants must be non-profit, charitable organizations tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Coca Cola https://www.coca-colascholars.org/cokeWeb/
Offers scholarships

Answer 2

A corporation has to exist for a purpose other than money or it cannot have a market. It must address some need. There are actually corporations that exist as "non-profit" like the Red Cross. But, these corporations must take in donated money to permit their staff to work full time for them and have homes and food. They must have money to provide supplies through volunteer networks. So, even though they are "not for profit" there is money required. FOR Profit corporations are generally organized for efficient delivery of goods or services to a market that wants what they provide and are willing to pay for it. IF the corporation makes TOO much money over time, other corporations will spring up to take some of that business at a lower price. If the prices are still creating "too much" wealth for the owners, even more corporations will form to get some of that profit bringing more competition and still lower prices. Eventually there will be too many companies in the market and the prices will not be enough to keep them in business so they will go bankrupt. The remaining corporations will then raise the prices to survival levels. Sometimes, new technology from a competing corporation will drive the old technology businesses out of the market.
Corporations are really just a large group of people that pool thier money to build factories and hire people to make something. The people that provide that money realize it is at risk (the stock market) and hope to be able to share the profits among the other owners. The owners are people just like you, who, instead of putting their money in a safe bank savings account, put it in a little piece of a big company (they bought stock). Banks are a low risk way to accumulte money to retire on, or to send a kid to college, or to buy a house. Stocks are riskier because your corporation may guess wrong about its product line or it may hire too many people or whatever and its value might go down and you could lose all your money. People carefully choose corporate stocks based on the risk of loss. In general, the greater the risk, the greater the profit or the greater the loss.
The underlying reason for the corporation therefore is NOT the money - but the desire for people to have the product or service the corporation makes. Without that - there will be no money. Yet, without the money, the corporation will not be able to make any more of the product or service and it will cease to exist. A corporaton must accumulate money but that is not the REASON it exists. That is HOW it continues to exist.
Another way to look at this is:
The Owner's (stockholder) REASON for investing in the corporaton is to make money for his retirement, to buy a home, a car, pay hospital bills or take vacation.. whatever. The Customer's REASON for buyng the product or service is what keeps the company in business in the first place. Because of the ability to own very small shares of a corporation, many people are both owners and consumers. They have a reason to hope for higher profits from their corporation and a reason to hope for lower prices for the things they want to buy.

Answer 3

Normally profiteering is the only reason for the existence of public/private corporations. That is because the major projects need extensive funds to be deployed and money of thousands of investors are invested to fund the project from which they expect return on their investments. Of course, most of the Government corporations, on account of its social responsibility towards the people of the country, are public utility corporations working at no profit and no loss basis for the service of the common masses, such as Municipal Corporation, Water supply and sewage corporations or electrical supply corporations. Rather some Government corporations are loss making corporations, which the Govenment has to run by subsidising their expenditure for the benefit of the people of the country.

Answer 4

Money is now the only reason that corporations exist, but it used be a group of people and the shareholders were not liable. Look back to the civil war times. If you can get a smart person who will remain an actual person (as opposed to the money grubbing, laundering bastereds that run companies and corporations now) you can have a responsible corporation where money is not the only reason why they exist.

Answer 5

Yes, because without money, what would be the ambitions of the CEO's of major corporations. Think about it, would you work really hard and dilegently, for the receit of something so insignificant as a small sum of money for hard work. We unfortunately live in a very materialistic world, and it is only going to get worse. So work hard and try to make money.

Answer 6

No. Corporations provide services and products.

Answer 7

If you're doing your research by asking random people on the internet for an answer, you're in BIG TROUBLE already.

Answer 8

Show me one corporation, for profit or not for profit who can operate without money.

Answer 9

Yeah...without money you cant hire people and build things

Answer 10

Wich money?