Even where the firm is able to maximise profit, would it always wish to do so?
The traditional neo-classical approach to the firm assumes the existence of an ownermanager. In such circumstances the rewards from the firm’s performance come directly to the owner-manager and profit maximisation appears realistic. This assumption, however, could still be questioned. For example, an individual might set up in business on his/her own in order to provide customers with a valued service at minimal profit, at the same time maximising his/her opportunity to pursue such pleasures as golf or fishing
The growth of large corporations and the dominance of public joint-stock companies brought the willingness of the firm to maximise profit into sharp focus due to the possibility of a separation of the ownership and management function. The implication was that although the firm was owned by its shareholders, it essentially delegated the running of the business to professional managers, who may or may not have been shareholders. In short, there is a divorce of ownership from control and the goals of
managers and shareholders might now be at variance. Under these circumstances it is easy to question the assumption of profit maximisation.
This situation can be illustrated by principal–agent theory (see Chapter 2), whereby the principals (in this case the shareholders) appoint agents (the professional managers) to operate the business on their behalf with the expectation that the business will be run in accordance with their wishes. If the shareholders’ wish is to maximise profit, which would appear a reasonable assumption, they should monitor the behaviour of managers to ensure the firm is run accordingly. However, given the likelihood of there being a large number of shareholders, and shareholders usually only observing the outcome of managerial behaviour rather than the behaviour that resulted in the outcome, this is clearly a difficult task. There is now a clear possibility that management will be able to fulfil its own objectives which might be at variance with those of shareholders