It is common knowledge that public-held corporations (i.e. on stock market) are profit-driven.
But what I recently learnt from my colleagues is that in #USA, employees of a public-held corporation are required by law to work in the interest of the stock-holders (i.e. maximise profit/dividends), and are also directly liable to them.
This is not so in Europe (I know at least for ,
,
,
) BTW, so that was a surprise!
So if a company says they care about a certain topic (e.g. privacy, environment, …), here’s my ultra-simplified decision list:
• NPO – Of course!
• social enterprise – Sure, why not
• private company (esp. EU-based)? – I’ll do some research, but should be OK
• startup (esp. US-based)? – Cool stuff, but once you IPO, I’m out.
• on stock market? – I’m quite sceptical…
• on stock market and US based? – Hell no!
(yes, of course, things are _much_ more complex, it’s a toot!)