Question: Should corporations consider right and wrong over return on investment (ROI) when making decisions or are corporations simply amoral, money-making machines? This simple question bypasses the question of government subsidies covering the costs (NCPPR's question 1) and long-term thinking/risk taking which may in fact consider future profits. However, regardless of these secondary aspects, corporations are made up of people and people make the decisions, and their decisions should not get free passes on morality due to a corporate shield.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took this position when an NCPPR representative asked him to commit to doing only those things that were profitable for the company. Mr. Cook angrily replied, "When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don't consider the bloody ROI." Cook then told him to get out of this stock.
What do you think? ~ Ilene
Tim Cook Soundly Rejects Politics of the NCPPR, Suggests Group Sell Apple's Stock
By Bryan Chaffin at The Mac Observer
In an emotional response to the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), Apple CEO Tim Cook soundly rejected the politics of the group and suggested it stop investing in Apple if it doesn't like his approach to sustainability and other issues.
Mr. Cook's comments came during the question and answer session of Apple's annual shareholder meeting, which the NCPPR attended as shareholder. The self-described conservative think tank was pushing a shareholder proposal that would have required Apple to disclose the costs of its sustainability programs and to be more transparent about its participation in "certain trade associations and business organizations promoting the amorphous concept of environmental sustainability."
As I covered in depth yesterday, the proposal was politically-based, and rooted in the premise that humanity plays no role in climate change. Other language in the proposal advanced the idea that profits should be the only thing corporations consider.
That shareholder proposal was rejected by Apple's shareholders, receiving just 2.95 percent of the vote. During the question and answer session, however, the NCPPR representative asked Mr. Cook two questions, both of which were in line with the principles espoused in the group's proposal.
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What ensued was the only time I can recall seeing Tim Cook angry, and he categorically rejected the worldview behind the NCPPR's advocacy. He said that there are many things Apple does because they are right and just, and that a return on investment (ROI) was not the primary consideration on such issues.
Full article Tim Cook Soundly Rejects Politics of the NCPPR, Suggests Group Sell Apple's Stock – The Mac Observer.
