Basis of Competition II

I wrote about the basis of competition in schools. What about in business? Is it price? There are many prices associated with a specific business: the price of their shares, the price of their products, the price they pay their staff, and the price they pay their suppliers, and so on. What is the price that we should take reference from?

Or are those a distraction like the way grades are distraction from learning? Because what is a business for? To make a profit? Hardly. Profits are incentives; and incentives tend not to be an end in themselves but a means to an end for a system. So what is the end that we want to achieve as a society to allow businesses to continue perpetuating? Probably to continue producing and delivering goods and services that people need; that makes the society ‘better’, and raise standards of living.

So why are businesses talking so much about the prices? Are these prices linked to the end goals of the businesses? What are the end goals they have in mind?