What firms must learn about 'deep purpose'
clarifies the meaning of ‘convenient purpose’: “any number of firms adopt idealistic purpose statements, take a range of actions to serve society, and yet continue to sell products and services that cause serious harm to stakeholders. Depending on your moral perspective, firms that sell fossil fuels, tobacco, alcohol, junk food, weapons, and some social media services all fall into this category.
The definition has a key gap. If, as the book indicates, the function of deep purpose is to give direction and to serve as an inspiration, deep purpose must be clear enough to provide guidance within the as firm as to whatThe consequences of an unclear purpose is obvious in a case cited by Gulati: “Etsy, the online arts-and-crafts marketplace ...
The result? Over the next 40 years, we saw the emergence of what analysts, such as James March, called “