[tdba]

Interestingly, Ford put his money where his mouth was and dropped the price of the Model T by 5x over the production period. Very hard to imagine today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T#Price_and_product...

> I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.

[Spark_Ed]

Thanks to Ford being sued by Dodge and setting the precedent that you must operate in the interests of the shareholders and not the customer or your employees.

[throw0101b]

> […] you must operate in the interests of the shareholders and not the customer or your employees.

This is a legal myth:

> The case still most often used in law schools to illustrate a director’s obligation is Dodge v. Ford Motor (1919)—even though an important 2008 paper by Lynn A. Stout explains that it’s bad law, now largely ignored by the courts. It has been cited in only one decision by Delaware courts in the past 30 years.

* https://hbr.org/2010/04/the-myth-of-shareholder-capitalism

The Stout paper, "Why We Should Stop Teaching Dodge v. Ford":

> This Essay argues that Dodge v. Fordis indeed bad law, at least when cited for the proposition that the corporate purpose is, or should be, maximizing shareholder wealth. Dodge v. Ford is a mistake, a judicial "sport," a doctrinal oddity largely irrelevant to corporate law and corporate practice. What is more, courts and legislatures alike treat it as irrelevant. In the past thirty years, the Delaware courts have cited Dodge v. Ford as authorint in only one unpublished case, and then not on the subject of corporate purpose, but on another legal question entirely.15

* https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/724/

[frumper]

I mean, Ford could have also not sold shares(ownership) in his company then they could do what they want.

[xigency]

So if a company wants to cater to customers and employees first it needs to be organized as a co-op?

[orwin]

Yes.

By the way, SWE consultancy co-op are a thing and in my experience pay 15% more than regular consultancy.

[dwaltrip]

I believe there is also the option of structuring it as a “public benefit corporation”.