Curiously though, the long-term successful companies* seem to have found a balance between naked profit seeking and "good-ness", usually through either not being publicly traded at all, or by having a single very forceful leader e.g. In-n-out Burger, Costco, Starbucks, Apple.
*Successful long term because ultimately seeking profit above all leads to reputational harm and resulting a downward spiral (or if lucky an oligopoly).
> ultimately seeking profit above all leads to reputational harm and resulting a downward spiral (or if lucky an oligopoly)
Not at all. If seeking profit leads to a downward spiral, then the managers are mistaken about how to seek profit. In particular, treating employees and customers well is an excellent strategy for making profits.
For example, I asked a used car salesman acquaintance how to tell if a car dealership was reputable or not. He said it's easy - have they been in business more than 5 years? If they have, they are running on repeat business. Bad dealerships run out of suckers before 5 years.
All those companies still recognize that they are businesses. They just recognize that having a positive image and treating employees well can be good business.
*Successful long term because ultimately seeking profit above all leads to reputational harm and resulting a downward spiral (or if lucky an oligopoly).