Maximising the bottom line and nothing else

MILTON FRIEDMAN, the free market economist who died last November, had little truck with the idea that businesses had responsibilities for anything other than making profits for investors.

Corporate social responsibility was only for wimps, business was about profits.

Regarded as the most influential economist in the second half of the 20th century, he inspired politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and had a profound impact on how we approach business and economics in the new millennium.