Facebook, BlackRock, and the Case for Purpose-Driven Companies

Social commitment can pay off in the long term.

"There is a lot of talk about purpose in business. Purpose-driven companies have been shown to outperform their peers over the long term. They can reap benefits because of higher employee productivity and customer loyalty and satisfaction. But purpose-driven companies are also hard to come by. Why is that? Because purpose is costly. At the very least, it requires a credible commitment to that purpose. And credible commitments are those that come at a cost; in the absence of a cost, all companies can claim that they are purpose-driven, and as a result the commitment stops being credible...

Social commitment can pay off in the long term.

"There is a lot of talk about purpose in business. Purpose-driven companies have been shown to outperform their peers over the long term. They can reap benefits because of higher employee productivity and customer loyalty and satisfaction. But purpose-driven companies are also hard to come by. Why is that? Because purpose is costly. At the very least, it requires a credible commitment to that purpose. And credible commitments are those that come at a cost; in the absence of a cost, all companies can claim that they are purpose-driven, and as a result the commitment stops being credible...