ABSTRACT
The most obvious distinction is that companies know what their corporate objectives are and dare to set corporate targets for themselves, while most non-profit making organizations (NPOs) lack any analogue of profit, or 'bottom line', and maintain that they cannot set corporate targets even if they wanted to. Another difference often recounted includes the belief that NPOs are more restricted than are companies, either by their charters or by government regulation, as to the choice of strategy they may adopt. Another distinction is that governments habitually interfere, often casually, ignorantly and arbitrarily, with the detailed management of the NPOs that they sponsor and control. NPOs are more tolerant towards their employees, are far less competitive and combative, and behave better than companies do in society. Employees in NPOs are said to be more fulfilled by the worthwhile jobs they do, even though they are often less well paid.
