Business Philosophy is for forums

Why do businesses exist?
The usual answer is ‘profit’.
But more recently there have been a lot of instances where companies of different sizes have gone ahead and talked about how profits are a byproduct of their business practices. Many of them profess that they exist for a larger cause preferably (& usually) in the territory of
Improving the quality of life for humanity or
Prosperity for all or
Sustainable development for communities and concern for environment or
Making their nation proud or
Redefining the planet
and there are many more which are more focused than these.

A few days back I was interacting with a group of bright management students. I was trying to provoke them by challenging the very concept of vision, mission, business philosophy etc. is articulated only after the company reaches a certain size?

What made the discussion interesting was realizing the fact that most of the great businesses of today (local or MNC) started simply as great innovations or were an implementation of solid business ideas. This also means that these businesses were started by super-ambitious individuals, who were not just passionate creators but had a personal goal in life, along-with keen business sense and conviction that they could make it happen.
These individuals went about realizing their dreams and ambitions, riding on their strengths & skills in business.
But as company grows, it ceases to be just a business. It is no more an individual, instead it begins to look more like a network, a network of people, places, processes, principles, goals, dreams, desires and a lot more. With so many nodes and interconnections in this network, the business is now no more just about one man with his ambition and skills. It needs more than passion and conviction of just one person to steer or lead it.
Thus there is needed a charter, a war cry, a goal that each and every person who is a part of this network can look at and know where this network wants to be. What is that it is trying to do? And why does it want to be that?
Business Philosophy, Vision and Mission statements are the modern day counterparts of pronouncements and key phrases that yesteryear’s military Generals used to marshal their troops to achieve their goals.
Business philosophy, Vision etc is like the velvet glove of the iron fist of profit orientation. While it seems that this glove is mainly a good talking point for forums or people who might not be as much interested in the figure against depreciation in a company’s balance sheet, it none the less helps in making more handshakes happen and keep the network alive and aligned.