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I'm not sure what you mean by ideally there. Do you mean that the platonic company is a money making machine? If so, that's certainly the case.

In practice, though, isn't it better if companies have non-monetary goals? Think Newman's Own, B-corps, etc.

I mean a company is, inherently, a money-making concern, and the ideal company obeys both the law and a code of ethics more restrictive than the law. Even a company that devotes all profits to charity has to end up in the black or else it ceases to exist and can't be a charity anymore.

Yea 20 years of work and this holds very true. Some are obviously better than others about how the manage employee interests vs theirs, best align both tightly as possible, owning equity for me is key to this.

More precisely: They are totalitarian dictatorships. You receive orders from above and maybe hand them down further.

Some have even compared them to psychopaths .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation_(2003_film) .. which seems fair.