In 1954, Peter Drucker made the point that profit is not the primary goal of business in his book, The Practice of Management. "Profit is not the explanation, cause or rationale of business behavior and business decisions, but the test of their validity." Profits are an essential result of business success. The true purpose of business is the creation of customers: the efficient provision of products and services which people want to buy. Satisfy customers and profit will follow.

Business Week (BW) called Peter Drucker “The Man Who Invented Management” and featured him in a Business Week cover story (October 17, 2005).

BW's John Byrne often met or spoke to Peter Drucker in the course of reporting many business and management stories. In this podcast he tells us why Drucker's ideas still matter.

Listen to this Business Week (BW) Podcast at: http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/qt/podcasts/cover_stories/covercast_11_17_05.mp3

Do you agree? Do Drucker's ideas still matter? Why?