Companies have policies until they stop having them.
I'm not saying that companies have to search profit above everything, I am saying that it's its main concern, otherwise they will not survive.
Indeed, management will have space to be nice when things go well, but they, automatically, will receive pressures from investors to change their nice ways when things go bad.
This is the way that it's intended to work and there is, I think, nothing surprising there.
Even if it were as simple as that, it wouldn't be as simple as that!
There's a difference between short-term and long-term profitability. Being 'nice' might limit profits in the short term but might be crucial for long-term survival.
And, nobody knows for sure what the correct long-term strategy is. Not every step that yields an immediate profit is a step in the right direction.
I'm not saying that companies have to search profit above everything, I am saying that it's its main concern, otherwise they will not survive.
Indeed, management will have space to be nice when things go well, but they, automatically, will receive pressures from investors to change their nice ways when things go bad.
This is the way that it's intended to work and there is, I think, nothing surprising there.