ABSTRACT
Value is different for different persons and functions within a business: production, marketing, maintenance, and sales as all care about and value different things. For publicly traded companies all managers have an obligation to increase shareholders wealth – over the long term, while doing business in an ethical way for all stakeholders. Value is therefore the answer to the question: How do I make my customer more sustainably profitable than the next best alternative? Sustainably means over a period of time: Businesses that find a way to be “profitable” one quarter at the cost of next year’s earning do not create but destroy shareholder value.
