(Example essay for an upcoming guide on how to approach the writing sample)
The goal of business should be to generate profits.
When a group of lionesses venture out in to the Savannah to hunt, they do so in the same fashion as a business focused on generating profits. Collectively, the lionesses ensure that variable factors are working in their favor to increase the total yield of gazelle kills; the sun must be in the right place, the herd of Gazelle must be running in the right direction, and the lionesses must be perfectly hidden behind rocks or in trees in order to precisely coordinate their attack. If conditions are not optimal, then the lionesses will bring home less food and the pack itself will suffer. Consequently, if the lion pack becomes too weak, it may itself become prey to other lion families. In business, as in the African Savannah, a company must produce sufficient monetary return in order to grow and flourish. In a report summarizing the views of twenty great CEOs of the modern age, the 'Economist' stated, "the major factor in a competitive business is its ability to secure and manage market share. This allows the corporation to maintain steady revenue while simultaneously controlling competition." If the company does not attempt to maximize the pertinent conditions necessary to ensure profit, it will flounder and eventually be out-competed by rival entities. Thus, without the primary goal of profit, a business cannot be ultimately successful in todays highly competitive marketplace.
While profit is the main focus of business in the modern day, there are conditions in which it is not the driving force. In 1989, a son of a millionaire, Seth Mullin, founded a company called 'Solargen' with an overriding social goal in my mind: "to find an affordable and efficient way to utilize solar power for widespread disseminated use". As Seth indicates, the primary goal of the company is not to generate profits, but rather to make solar power affordable and efficient. In contrast to the selfish quality of profit generating businesses, Solargen's goal is altruistic in nature. The company now manufactures solar powered houses, individual solar lighting, and power systems for satellites. In addition, a report from Science Daily revealed over 180 peer-reviewed original research innovations were produced in Solargen's laboratories. These projects, while not borne from a profit motivated attitude, are still sufficient to sustain the companys monetary interests. As a result of the altruistic mantra of Solargen, in 2001, Seth's company was recognized as the major impetus behind the fundamental improvement of the solar power landscape since 1989. It has been suggested by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, that because Solargen is like a cactus in the otherwise barren desert of the solar power market, it does not have to worry about out-competing other companiesthere is no other proverbial 'lion pack' to steal gazelles from Solargen. Hence, the vast majority of the market share is under Solargen's control, and Solargen does not have to focus its efforts on competition. Krugman further states, If Solargen were to fail, it would be due to its own demerits, rather than by the external pressure of companies that generated more profit. Indeed, Solargen has yet to fail.
In a highly competitive marketplace, a business is forced to compete for market share with rivals. In this competitive paradigm, generating profits is the only way to achieve sustainability, and hence, must be the company's primary goal. If a company cannot continue to grow monetarily, then its competitors will eventually overtake and engulf it. In contrast, as evidence by the history of Solargen, if the market is fully controlled by a single company, then the business would be free of the competition that normally cages other corporations, and can devote resources to goals not directly related to profits.