At the base is economic responsibility, with its focus on providing wealth and value for stakeholders. Company Q has interpreted this to mean that if a store is consistently losing money, it should be closed to protect the company’s remaining assets, and thereby preventing loss to stakeholders. While lost revenues should definitely be a consideration, Company Q could have also investigated why the two stores were losing money. Did insurance costs rise because of the location of the stores in high-crime areas? Were payroll costs outpacing profits?
At least in the health care battle, the administration can count some powerful corporate interests on its side — like the large segment of the Fortune 500 that has concluded the current system is unsustainable. That is hardly the case when it comes to challenging agribusiness. Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future. There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.
The original aim of Prohibition was to “reduce crime and corruption.1” The idea behind this was that by decreasing alcohol consumption, the amount of drunken crimes would go down, and decrease the crime rate. This is true to an extent as petty crimes such as vagrancy, swearing and mischief did decrease due to Prohibition2. However this is overshadowed by the fact that Prohibition created the problem of bootlegging. As liquor was no longer legally available, the public was practically forced by the government to turn to gangsters for supplies. As this industry was so vastly popular in demand, it became vastly profitable for gangsters, and as Thornton says, “criminal groups organise around a steady source of income provided by victimless crimes such as consuming alcohol.”3 This is a very useful source as Thornton is one of America’s experts on the economics of illegal drugs4, so he can inform about the way the criminal gangs avoided Prohibition, and sold alcohol illegally.
Competency 310.2.1 Ethical Issues In Business EVALUATION From the information given, it seems that company Q has a negative attitude towards social responsibility. Company Q has begun to listen to the needs of its customers, and is attempting to address those needs by supplying the desired products. However, it seems that company Q is selective in which customer’s needs it will address. By closing two stores in high crime rate, or in other words, lower income areas, they have sent the message that they appeal only to a more affluent crowd. Also, company Q’s only concession to changing policies is to begin carrying high margin, or high cost, products at all of its stores.
The Company used lower prices to attract customers and then charged them a higher cost than advertised. Premier Fitness even continued charging customers’ accounts long after the membership was cancelled: a violation of privacy. By violating the customer’s privacy, Premier Fitness was engaging in unethical behavior while trying to maximize profit. The Company would have seen short-term gains but this practice lead to long-term brand rejection by customers. Considering the focus on healthy lifestyles and the number of fitness clubs open a long-term approach would have been quite successful - had the Company chosen that strategy.
Wal-Mart’s sales were growing, and that meant that Target’s sales would go down since consumers preferred Wal-Mart for Target. The inability of Target’s managers to identify a solution to the problem of dropping sales and develop a viable course of action also affected Target’s performance. Another micro environmental factor was the thriftiness of customers all over America, which endeared them to Wal-Mart. The impatience of Target’s shareholders and the pressure they exerted on the company’s board to deliver was also a major factor. The marketing strategies that were adopted by the management also failed to turn things around.
Wal-Mart’s sales were growing, and that meant that Target’s sales would go down since consumers preferred Wal-Mart for Target. The inability of Target’s managers to identify a solution to the problem of dropping sales and develop a viable course of action also affected Target’s performance. Another micro environmental factor was the thriftiness of customers all over America, which endeared them to Wal-Mart. The impatience of Target’s shareholders and the pressure they exerted on the company’s board to deliver was also a major factor. The marketing strategies that were adopted by the management also failed to turn things around.
A final area that we will look into is that of a decision made by company Q to dispose of old and expired food products, instead of agreeing to a request of local food banks to donate the items. The reason company Q made this decision, according to their spokesman, was that there was “a concern of lost revenues due to possible fraud, or theft of food by employees and claiming donation.” This is a poor excuse by a company with the resources to enable proper oversight of the donation process. So what can be done? Company Q has 3 examples where a lack of vision and
It is also stated that after many years of requesting health conscience items you are just starting to offer a limited amount of these products, which are known as high margin items. Company Q has also received requests from local food banks for donations of day-old products, but you have decided to throw the food away instead of donating, citing concerns that employees would lie about donating food and steel the items instead. In my review of these provided facts, I would like to provide three recommendations on how you can improve Company Q’s attitude towards social responsibility. My first recommendation is to increase your current offerings of the Organic food items. This has been a continual request from the customer base.
Not only is this a waste of money, it could be spent on many other worthwhile things in life if they didn’t have an eating problem. Another helpful idea is that McDonalds needs to get rid of the super size menu. Not only is the super size menu unhealthy, it is a huge proportion of food that I sold for a relatively cheaper price. By getting rid of the supersize menu, obese people will have an even harder time deciding what they can get