> It's not just a "commonly taught idea that businesses should focus solely on generating profit", it's the fundamental principle upon which economies are built today almost anywhere in the world.
It's hardly the fundamental principle. The fundamental principle is that people need things to survive and its more efficient if people specialize and trade than if everyone creates everything they need.
The pervase idea that businesses should focus solely on generating profit is also directly responsible for lots of problems almost anywhere in the world from driving out less vicious competitors to rent seeking to externalizing costs to everyone else e.g. via pollution.
I think you're actually both right, in different ways.
Fairly self-evidently, the sane fundamental principle for a business is "make a good/provide a service, and if you do so well, you make a good profit".
Unfortunately, for the past few decades, businesses in the Western world (and particularly the US) have increasingly been operating based on a fundamental principle of "make as much money as you possibly can, and if you have to make a good/provide a service to do so, that's a necessary evil".
It's hardly the fundamental principle. The fundamental principle is that people need things to survive and its more efficient if people specialize and trade than if everyone creates everything they need.
The pervase idea that businesses should focus solely on generating profit is also directly responsible for lots of problems almost anywhere in the world from driving out less vicious competitors to rent seeking to externalizing costs to everyone else e.g. via pollution.