Year: 2026 | Month: January | Volume: 13 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 462-472
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260144
Corporate Profits as a Prerequisite for Employment
Tobias Oberdieck1, Enrico Moch2
1Chief Executive Officer, GrandEdu GmbH, Germany
2Academic Director, Department of Economics, GrandEdu Research School, Germany
Corresponding Author: Enrico Moch
ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the relationship between entrepreneurial profits from productive activity and the long-term safeguarding and creation of employment. The starting point is the hypothesis that profits are not a mere by-product of economic activity, but act as a signal of successful coordination of labour, capital and knowledge and are therefore a necessary prerequisite for investment and stable employment. The Austrian School of Economics is used for theoretical categorisation, which understands markets as dynamic processes under uncertainty and interprets profits as the result of entrepreneurial discovery. In this understanding, profits indicate that production decisions are in line with consumer preferences and open up room for manoeuvre for investment, adaptation and expansion. Methodologically, the work follows a theory-led case analysis. The inner logic of entrepreneurial action is analysed using the example of the German family business Trigema, which has been producing entirely in Germany for decades and finances its activities from its own earning power. The analysis reconstructs the causal relationship between profit, investment and employment based on real company decisions. The results show that long-term employment does not arise independently of economic success, but as a result of repeated entrepreneurial success under competitive conditions. Profits enable investment in production capacities, qualifications and organisational stability and at the same time act as a buffer against economic fluctuations. Employment thus proves to be a downstream result of productive value creation. The study concludes that entrepreneurial profits from productive activity are a necessary prerequisite for long-term employment. They are not a contradiction to social stability, but rather its basis, provided they result from competition and are utilised productively within the company. The study thus contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurship, competition and employment and systematically categorises the role of profits in the production process.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial profits, employment, Austrian School, entrepreneurship, investment, family businesses, competition, value creation, Trigema.
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