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Economic Affairs
Why 'customers first' is the ultimate winning strategy
Research shows that it delivers for all stakeholders
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Research has found that in the end, the intuitions of savvy business owners are valid: the customer is paramount.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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Management gurus, economists and chief executives have long debated what the main purpose of a company should be. In 1970, the economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman famously argued that the primary responsibility of a company is to its owners, namely its shareholders. He dismissed the idea of a company funding social causes as, in effect, spending other people's money for its own benefit.
"The Friedman doctrine," which maintains that the primary purpose of a company is to maximise shareholder returns, held sway for decades, and is still influential in the world's boardrooms.
