Class-- Professor Popovitch 8/27/2011 12:32:01 PM It is generally understood that the foremost purpose of a business enterprise is to maximize the owners' return on investment. Is this a good thing? Where does social responsibility fit into the equation (if at all)? Can you cite examples of companies that took the profit-maximization mandate too far at the expense of society as a whole?

Respond RE: Class-- Ligia Filion 8/31/2011 10:17:03 PM A prime example of investment maximization would be the Real Estate Market in 2006- 2007. A lot of the Real Estate owners took advantage of the mortgage boom and the over priced homes that were being sold. The inflation of prices made homeowners who were selling their homes great profits/ return at the time of sale. The Realtor's selling the homes were also getting commission from the homes they sold. The higher the prices of the home the greater the profits they could go home with.

Respond RE: Class-- Rafael Aguilar 9/1/2011 3:12:32 PM As a senior executive at my current company, I would be foolish to disagree with the statement that maximazation of profit and return on investments is the primary business goal. I personally am one that believes that the whole social responsibility situation has been overused and exagerated to much. Yes, a company should not overextend itself where they are geapordizing the financial security of the state or country. However, it is important to keep government economy seperate from the business sector in the sense that a company shouldn't bear as much pressure as they currently have to control their profitability mandate. If you look at the current housing market meltdown, many if not all blame the banking and mortgage institutions for lending money for homes to people that couldn't really afford them. However, the other side to