It seemed as I was graduating from college in the early 1980’s, prevailing business thought revolved around a passion for the customer. Business writing seemed to be dominated by the power of the customer at least from a marketing perspective. Customers selected the style of car and the flavor of food. Customers were front-and-center of marketing thought and business motivation.
Beginning in the mid 1980’s, coinciding with a general acceleration in technology, the focus started to change. Technology brought about the idea that businesses created value with their hope and that was reflected in the stock value. Shares of stock and shareholders became the central focus of business motivation. Every business wanted to create value for their shareholders. In the interest of shareholder value we experienced the travesty of Enron and WorldCom and we’re seeing the current stock market bust. Many have prospered from the stock market run-up that ended in October of 2008. Fortunes were made, until recently. [click to continue…]
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