As noted in Chapter 4, private sector firms are ultimately answerable to their shareholders. Labor is hired to accomplish organizational objectives. Shareholders seek a higher risk-adjusted return than other investments offer, which means a firm's original purpose may no longer be the one by which investors can best realize their objectives. To meet investor objectives, management seeks to maximize profits in its present operations and to shift investment from areas with declining returns to those where improvement is anticipated, with the greatest amount of flexibility possible. Firms might be expected to leave previous markets and enter new ones as the environment changes the rates of return for various industries. Mergers and acquisitions reflect the mobility of capital. If a firm is not making an acceptable return on its equity, a lower eaming division can be old, forcing unions to deal with successor owners. Part of an organization can also be spun off, as General Motors did with its parts-producing operations in creating Delphi Corporation and as Ford did in creating Visteon. Exhibit 8,3 provides information on the reasons behind this action. After Delphi was spun off, its cost structure, together with declining auto production following 9/11, led the company to seek protection under chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code in 2005