Profit is a measure of success and survival on the market, but it is easy to mistake the result for the cause. That’s why so many business leaders still treat profit as the ultimate goal of strategy. It sounds logical, but it’s wrong. Profit is not strategy; profit is an outcome. And that confusion is costly. Here’s why.

Real strategy creates value across multiple dimensions: intangible assets, processes, customer trust — and yes, financial performance. Profit emerges only when these forms of value align and reinforce one another. That’s why Apple empowers its teams to obsess over user experience rather than margins, why Amazon engineers its entire ecosystem around data-driven customer satisfaction, and why Brandt’s reputation collapsed by chasing short-term profit over quality.

Value starts with what can’t be seen

Culture, structure, and people are intangible assets. A strong culture aligns values and ethics with strategy. The right organizational and managerial style drives cohesion and smart decisions. Information flows and knowledge sharing turn ideas into action, while human capital (skills, talent, and judgment) converts purpose into performance. ATOZ Luxembourg shows how empowering people transforms engagement into enduring success, Ferrari continues to thrive by turning craftsmanship, ownership, and pride, into timeless luxury, while Nokia lost its dominance when bureaucracy replaced agility.

Processes create value through the way work gets done. Here, resources, energy, and talent are transformed into outcomes. They connect innovation, logistics, and production factors into efficient systems that shapes both product quality and impact. Well-designed processes don’t just deliver results; they determine how value (and alas externalities) are produced. La Provençale built loyalty by standardising quality and local sourcing, POST modernized logistics with digital efficiency, while fragmented planning and process failures drove many construction firms to collapse.

Customers buy if they perceive real value, in the form of quality, usefulness, or trustworthiness. That value stems directly from your processes; how effectively you turn resources and innovation into products with the right attributes and performance. Brand strength, reputation, and communication amplify this perception (especially as clients increasingly value sustainability alongside price and function). In the end, they compare you with competitors and buy what they value most. Oberweis elevated customer care into an art of indulgence, Luxlait earned national trust by combining tradition with consistent quality, while Nike’s recent over-engineered digital push and cost-driven obstinacy eroded its brand identity.

Eventually, the financial dimension captures value once it is monetized. Profit appears only when the price customers are willing to pay exceeds the total cost of creating that value. It reflects how well intangible assets, processes, and client satisfaction convert into economic performance — the visible outcome of an invisible system. Toyota turned lean innovation into a powerful engine of efficiency, IKEA balanced design with affordability, whereas Boeing’s cost-cutting on the 737 MAX overrode safety and crashed its share price into freefall.

Profit is not the goal but the result.

When companies focus narrowly on profit, they often undermine the very foundations that generate it. When businesses build value with strategic purpose, prosperity follows step by step. Responsible leaders, like those at Ferrari, IKEA or Oberweis, create value through engaged teams, optimised and sustainable processes, and targeted offerings aligned with real customer needs. Conversely, even the most solid organisations, like Enron or Arthur Andersen, can go down, just like the Titanic. Not from a single storm, but because agility fades, cracks spread unseen, customers are lost, and margins go under.

And you, as a business leader, what’s your approach? Do you treat people, processes, and purpose as costs, or as capital?

By Norman J. Fisch, CEO & Advisor & Lidia N. Rahal, Head of ESG Reporting & Advisor

This article was published in Delano : Business Strategy is NOT About Profit | Delano News