Their philosophy of 'running the city like a business' is really just about having things their way and making things easy for their business, and their friends' businesses, and to hell with everything else to do with what a city should be and do.
Run the city like a business, in order to put business in charge of the city, for the benefit of business.
It should be noted that Rob, by his own admission, has very little involvement in the running of Deco and so can't be credited with its success, but that's what he draws on to establish his credentials as a money-saver. The family pushed him into the political sphere to keep him out of the day-to-day operations of the business and find something else for him to do, drawing on a modicum of personal charm that he has, as well as to obtain political power for the family, to serve their sense of entitlement.
