“There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”
Great businesses create lots of customers and keep them buying for a long time. The key is service. They serve by providing customers with what they consider to be valuable.
Moreover, not only service, not only valuable service but also reliable service. A business provides reliable service when it assumes responsibility for the customer’s welfare. When it sees itself as the customer’s benefactor.
A business that creates and keeps customers by providing what the customer considers to be valuable and reliable service is a business that understands its purpose.
(The Practice of Management, chapter 5)