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Business purpose refers to the wider, long-term goal of a commercial enterprise, which may substantially differ from its mission statement, the latter generally representing a simplified, operational version of the former. The concept makes part of the ethical framing of a business, together with notions such as vision, mission, and values The term gained media attention in recent years as a result of Milton Friedman's essay on the subject, originally published in the New York Times Magazine in 1970. Business purpose has been proposed to exist in one of two forms: current purpose, or mission; and future purpose, or vision.

History
Aristotle is said to have implicitly contemplated the importance of business ethics and business purpose in his Nicomachean books, where he describes the moral and intellectual traits accompanying virtuous human behavior in society. The idea initially put forward by Friedman, that the purpose of firms is to maximize profits or market value, was subsequently challenged by authors like Carson in 1999, and Jordi in 2010, who questioned the limitations of this perspective, contending that, since a firm made up of people to serve other people, the purpose of a business must also englobe the company's "responsibilities towards people, clients, shareholders, and society at large". In turn, Drucker ascertains that the purpose of a business must ultimately lie in society, where it belongs. Thus, in parallel with the advance of corporate social responsibility theory, the concept of business purpose has been widened to include not only the basic role of the organization, but also other reasons for being, its vision, values, scope of business, public image, and beyond. The presence of noble purposes in the ethical framework of a company is now regarded as a crucial component of virtuous leadership. In turn, Mourkogiannis ascertained that company purpose is key to firm success: "given the dynamics of motivation and behavior, ideas are what cause companies to go from good to great, rather than organization and structure", he has affirmed.