New research shows that the majority of UK adults think that businesses put profit before consumers, but is this a bad thing?
A YouGov poll of more than 2000 UK adults for the CBI’s trust-in-business campaign – the Great Business Debate – revealed that 71 per cent think companies put profits before the needs of consumers.
This suggests that businesses are not doing enough to explain the link between company success and delivering for consumers.
However, the British business group argues that when markets work well, profits are made by pleasing consumers, not at their expense.
Therefore the CBI is calling for an end to profit being used like a "dirty" word and an open conversation about why the profits businesses make ultimately benefit consumers.
Katja Hall, CBI Deputy Director-General, explained: "Despite support for profits as a ‘good thing’, they continue to be demonised widely. We need to recalibrate this debate.
"When markets work well, the best businesses deliver for their customers and reap the rewards in sales and profits. Profits make employing people and investing in new products and services possible, in turn bringing huge long-run benefits to consumers.
"Our Great Business Debate is combatting myths about what business does and it recognises that people’s direct experience as customers is a big factor in determining their confidence in business generally.
"To boost trust, businesses must listen harder to understand and respond to their customers’ ever-evolving needs and expectations. And consumers must be genuinely enabled to use their spending power through giving them real product and service choices and the information to switch between them."