The purpose of privately owned businesses has been an increasingly important issue confronting executives and members of corporate boards since Friedman’s iconic 1970 essay that argued that the purpose of private businesses is to maximize profits, which equates to producing and distributing their products as efficiently as possible. Perhaps the most prominent challenge to Friedman’s argument is the claim that a narrow focus on benefiting shareholders is inconsistent with benefiting society more broadly. Critics of Friedman’s shareholder model of corporate governance propose that administrators of companies implement a stakeholder model. The stakeholder model of corporate governance prioritizes the interests of a range of different economic agents including consumers, employees, suppliers, local communities in which companies are located, and the physical environment in addition to shareholders.