Deep Breathing
What’s the purpose of business?
Many people would say the fundamental purpose of business – the raison d’etre -- is to generate profits. The answer often comes with a suspicious look that seems to say, d’uh …why else would we do this?
We have a slightly different opinion. We think that profits are like breathing. Breathing is fundamental to life. But, clearly, breathing is not the purpose of life (at least we hope not). Similarly, profits are fundamental to business but they’re not the purpose of business.
So, if profit is not the purpose of business, then what is? For us, we’ve decided that the reason Lawson exists is to make customers stronger. It’s a simple statement, but one with many ramifications about what customers can expect from us and what we expect from our customers.
We’ll write more about those ramifications in future Opinionizers. In the meantime, think about this question: Would you rather do business with a company whose primary goal is to make money or one whose primary goal is to make you stronger?
As its name implies, The Lawson Opinionizer offers opinions. We believe we've got our facts straight but we don't guarantee it. A new Opinionizer appears every Monday. If you have an opinion, send an e-mail to Opinionizer@lawson.com
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