Source:(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/magazine/flash-boys-michael-lewis.html?_r=0)
For-profit corporations exist to make money for their stake and shareholders. It is the purpose for which the initial investment that started said company occurred; a glorious and exponential return of capital. Yett there are times where pursuit of profit can be all-consuming.
As detailed in the article “The Wolf Hunters of Wall Street” from the New York Times, RBC traders discovered a deliberate delay in the information relaying computer softwares to give certain traders an edge on the market. This type of dishonesty may lead to higher profit for a certain corporation, but it is at the expense of the market as a whole. John Freeman stated in his video interview that a corporation or firm has a responsibility to not only its stake and shareholders, but to the entire system it affects, from customers, to suppliers to financiers. By this definition, the illicit and debauch trading that went on under RBC and Wall Street’s nose can only harm the market in which the cheating firm operates. Milton Freidman believed that as long as a company took care of its own interests and the consumer took care of theirs, the market would excel. This applies in reverse: if a company prevents the consumer from looking after their own interests, it will promote a crash similar to the 2008 market failure.
To conclude; profit and the bottom line have important positions in any company agenda, but honesty, integrity and strong ethical values in business are in everyone’s best interests.