// John Lewis Partnership’s chair doubles down on comments that businesses should not let social and environmental goals distract them from making profits
// White warned that business had been “caught up in the culture wars” and re-emphasised her view that making a profit and doing good can “go hand in hand”
John Lewis Partnership boss Dame Sharon White has reiterated her thoughts that companies do not have to sacrifice a pursuit of profit in order to contribute positively to society.
Writing in The Mail On Sunday, the partnership’s chair doubled down on comments made in a speech to the Resolution Foundation think tank last month that led to her facing criticism.
In her column, White acknowledged that the public were “demanding more of business,” with social and environmental issues, especially younger shoppers.
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However, White said there needed to be “a recognition that companies are set up to make money.”
She added: “Only when they have done this can those profits be invested in doing good. Making a profit is a passport to doing good.”
The societal role of business had “got caught up in the culture wars,” she said.
White dubbed it a “step too far” for companies to change their “fiduciary duty to extend not only to shareholders but to workers and to society.”
A change in law would be “unnecessary,” White added, and said she advocated “common sense capitalism”.
John Lewis and other big name retailers have backed the Better Business Act campaign, which is attempting to amend the Companies Act.
White’s piece stated: “Companies are already responding to the demands of their shareholders and customers to be more socially aware.
She insisted: “To really deliver on this agenda, companies need to turn a profit. You need to do well to do good. Profit is what gives business the firepower and resources to address the issues that are bigger than one business or even one country.”
“Amidst all the noise, we should not lose sight of the fact that the most successful companies create jobs and wealth as well as giving back to society.”
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