to Increase its Profits ’. Economist Friedman effectively said that an organisation should show no regard or responsibility for anything other than its shareholders .

As often happens with unpopular new concepts , it took a few years for other voices to echo Friedman ’ s doctrine , and it was not until the 1980s that the pursuit of shareholder value at any cost became the new purpose for doing business .

And it worked . Shareholders made fortunes , and stock exchanges from New York to London to Tokyo all benefitted – right up to the 2008 financial crisis which pulled the plug on Gordon Gecko ’ s ‘ greed is good ’ mantra . businesschief . com 53