Precisely -- the shareholder agreement, along with statutory and SEC reqs (esp for public co's) define what the corporation is supposed to be "for". In general

Precisely -- the shareholder agreement, along with statutory and SEC reqs (esp for public co's) define what the corporation is supposed to be "for". In general, they are for making the shareholders money. B-corps (benefit corporations) are a new idea where the charter of the company can include optimizing for things other than pure shareholder value, such as social responsibility, commitment to workers etc. Sort of a merge of profit and not-for-profit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_corporation