"Business strategies aim to maximize the present value of all future profits" -if only it were so! This could perhaps be true for businesses that are effectively under the control of a single (or a few) individual(s). Bill Gates can say (and has said!) to Microsoft - "my new strategy may dent profits for a year or two, but in the long term I think it's the right thing to do, so that's the way we're going". But the CEO of a corporate that's owned by other corporate shareholders who tried that trick would be on the street in very short order. The timescales on which most large businesses operate today are measured in months, not years, which (IMHO) accounts for a lot of what's wrong with those businesses. But I don't know how to fix it, short of making joint stock companies illegal ...

It's a sound strategy to optimize for business longevity. That notion incorporates the idea of achieving profitability without becoming prey to short-term, quarterly statement-type thinking.

The following article discusses this:

http://www.businessfinancemag.com/magazine/archives/article.html?articleID=13545

Bensaou and Earl (1998) discussed their observations between the manner in which the Japanese see IT in comparison to the west. The premise is that Japanese businesses are more comfortable thinking about improving operational goals vice thinking about having a big IT system to track minutia to quantify potential savings in order to justify IT project expenditures. The context here is important. The Japanese look towards addressing inefficencies that interfere with intelligent business operations without justifying the heck out of building something to maximize profits. They adopt the appropriate technology versus buying technology for technologies sake. High value is still placed on human judgement and business relationships to identify and understand where efficiencies can be made.

The Japanese are more patient. They'll correct the underlying problem in a manner that brings overall efficiency at an appropriate time that suits their operations and customer desires. In essence they invest a bit more time in the improvement cycle, nominally less money in technology, and more time with the customers with an end result of increased customer satisfaction, increased sales, and increased profits in the longer term.

So here they've improved form, fit, function, and made money in the process. Not bad. Check out Japan 7-11 and Toyota if you want examples.

Reference: Bensaou, M., & Earl, M. (1998, SeptemberOctober). The right mindset for
managing information technology. Harvard Business Review , pp. 118-128.