I dunno man, I had a management professor raise an argument that a publicly traded business had only one function, and that was to provide value to its shareholders. Anything else, such as charitable donations, could be considered stealing from its shareholders - unless it provided a return on investment (e.g. a charitable donation provided good PR which caused more people to buy your product).

I don't think the professor truly believed the argument he was making, but more presenting it as a "this is how many successful businesses operate and how they justify it".

I'll second this, from someone with a MBA as well. While it's technically the end goal is to provide a return on investment to shareholders, if you're a publicly traded company. There are also B corps as well nowadays, which seek to give back to the greater world. The problem with capitalism, is that, in theory, it acts like a parasite, when it SHOULD be acting like a symbiotic entity. Short term gains are never sustainable, big picture should be the top priority. Part of the reason why I love small business and non profits, they try and live in harmony with their neighbors, in theory.