Profitprinciple Balancing Act
For industry, the bottom line is profits. In 1998 the chairman of The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, Mark Moody-Stuart, stated, "We believe that without principles, no company deserves profit. Without profits, no company can sustain principles." Alasdair Blair and David Hitchcock, authors of Environment and Business (2001), respond to this statement by noting the following about the remarks of the Shell chairman: He acknowledges the fact that profits without principles is immoral but, on the other hand, realizes that no company can afford to possess principles which go counter to profits.
There is an inevitable balancing act that must be played out by companies each and every day with respect to "principle" and "profit." No company can operate on purely proenvironmental decisions, nor can a company run solely on the basis of maximum profits. In the end, a company must choose a course of action that is somewhere in between the two extremes.
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