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The value of a company can be maximized only through its customers. Each business works in the same way: acquire some resources, transform them into goods or services, and then sell the final product or service to the customers. The positive feedback that the customers give, if they are content, is the actual value maximization. According to classical Utilitarianism, people are structured in such a way that they are in constant pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. Therefore, the theory states that we don't desire things because they are good, but rather things are good because we desire them. The main idea and focus of this theory is to universalize the above said or in other words, we should act in such a way that will bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. The purpose is not to maximize pleasure to all people but maximize pleasure as a whole (if ones' pain means pleasure for many people then causing pain to one is a moral action).1 For example, if I rob a bakery in a village and feed ten people with the money I have stolen, then my actions are morally justified because despite the pain I brought to one (the owner) I made ten people happy. But if my robbery causes the bankruptcy of the bakery and then the whole village will suffer because there is no bread, then my actions are immoral. Utilitarianism is not about the intentions behind an action but the result of an action. And it is not important just the immediate effect of the action but the long-term result of it, or in other words, Utilitarianism follows the idea of consequentialism. .
In terms of business, Utilitarianism ethics and shareholders' value maximization are two things that can co-exist together. Let's take a clothing company for example. If the company wants to fulfill its ultimate purpose which is shareholders' value maximization, it must stay competitive. In order to stay competitive the company must cover its demand for clothes at a price and quality that satisfies the customers.
