In my experience, most people add no value or at least distinct value to a company. They are fungible -- as interchangeable as a can of tuna. They have fostered an expertise that falls within certain parameters and their jobs are designed to utilize that expertise. But they don't help grow the business.
Perhaps I used the phrase "add value" incorrectly. What I meant to say was add value beyond their job description. Every successful person I ever met has done this.
Then, management has failed. If the employees, doing their jobs - let's set aside the issue of employees not working - aren't enough for the business to succeed, then management doesn't know how to manage. They don't know how to leverage their employees, how to write job descriptions, how to assign duties, so that the business grows through the natual efforts of its employees.
What you describe - where the business only grows if employees go above and beyond their duties - is improper and exploitative.