Contents Page
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 1
Business Management and Ethics ………………………………………………. 1
Business, Technology and Environment ………………………………………… 4
Social Responsibility …………………………………………………………….. 6
References ……………………………………………………………………….. 7
Introduction
Business management is the efficient function of marketing techniques. It reflects to the planning, analysis, control of programs, and implementation, designed to create, build, and sustain equally valuable interactions with target markets (Barbara J. Orser, Hogarth-Scott, S., & Riding, A. L. 2000). Perhaps, every organization wants to start a management scheme and plan that could preserve the organization’s potential, strength and competitiveness. It is vital that the administrative team and the organization by itself should always open minded for adjustment that they might meet in order to deal with and become accustomed to the most recent development that are happening within and outside their environment. Thus, this paper will discuss and evaluate business practices that would help an organization to achieve its mission and to survive with the stiff competition in consideration to the environmental impact of the business process. This will discuss the issues pertaining to organizations balance environmental concerns against economic profits.
Business Management and Ethics
With regards to the actions of companies which affect other companies and individuals, let us consider the issue concerning business management and ethics. In any contemporary operating business organisation, progress that the company is making is recorded as basis for, among a host of other essential things, decision-making and as a benchmark for measuring the business’s performance for the period under scrutiny. Historically, the term business referred to activities or interests. By extension the word became (as recently as the 18th century) synonymous with "an individual commercial enterprise". It has also taken on the more general meaning of "a nexus of commercial activities" (Stabler, M 1997). Businesses are established to perform economic activities. With rare exceptions (such as cooperatives, corporate bodies, non-profit organisations and institutions of government), they are for-profit ventures. That is, one of the main objectives of the owners and operators of the business is to receive a financial return for their time, effort and capital.
Business activity has received a very diverse review from the ethicists of this generation (Cotton, 1998 and Alexander, Owers, , Carveth, , Hollifield, & Greco (Eds.) 2004). In the age of the industrial and scientific revolution, people believed they could reason themselves toward better behavior, but today, having seen the horrors of what the industrial and scientific revolution has brought upon us, many have given up any hope of finding a unified answer for right and wrong (Cotton, 1998).
A business firm needs to ask itself three questions before proceeding with any activity: is the action profitable, is it legal, and is it ethical? If an action is not profitable, it will not be undertaken. If it would be profitable, then the decision-makers need to evaluate whether it also would be legal and ethical.
According to Suderman (1999), the need for business to act more socially responsible is increasing. Technology, international markets, and new social problems have magnified the awareness of what the function of business should be. Half a century ago, the mission was clear - profits. In the modern world, society has placed a great emphasis on social issues and because business touches every aspect of society, strict demands are placed on it. The controversy between business and social issues has long been debated, but is starting to meet level ground. Out of this understanding come some guidelines for every institution to ideally follow.
The first proposition is that "social responsibility arises from social power" (Davis, 1990: 166). This suggests that if a business has power, it should take responsibility for its actions. Business is anchored to an iron law of responsibility which states "in the long run, those who do not use power in a way that society considers responsible will tend to lose it" (Kreitner, 1998: 137). The business should take into account the effect its acts have on others and promote the quality of life as a whole (Roth, 2004).
The second guideline is that "business shall operate as a two-way open system with open receipt of inputs from society and open disclosure of its operations to the public" (Davis, 1990: 166). This guideline indicates that business should listen to social needs and wants (Suderman, 1999). The communication between business and society demands improvement. It is claimed that business only reveals the good aspects, but rarely the bad aspects in its public relations. Business should undergo a social audit in much of the same way as it undergoes an accounting audit to accomplish this objective (Davis, 1990: 167).
The third proposition states that "social costs as well as benefits of an activity, product, or service shall be thoroughly calculated and considered in order to decide whether to proceed with it" (Davis, 1990: 167); which means that business should consider the long-term effects of its activities on society as well as short-term effects. A product may be considered beneficial today, but the long-term use of the product may be harmful to the environment (Suderman, 1999).
The fourth guideline is that the "social costs of each activity, product, or service shall be priced into it so that the consumer (user) pays for the effects of his consumption" (Davis, 1960: 168). The consumer will pay for all costs involved in goods and services, including social costs. Usually "society or someone else has had to bear these social costs while the consumer benefited from the reduced product price" (Davis, 1990: 168). The goal behind this proposition is the social costs are caused by the consumption of a good or service, so the consumer should be responsible for as much of it as possible. If the higher price deters consumers from buying a product or service, it is still beneficial to society because the social costs of consumption are averted.
The final proposition is that "beyond social costs, business institutions as citizens have responsibilities for social involvement in areas of their competence where major social needs exist" (Davis 169). Business is not responsible for every social problem that arises, but should help to solve them. A business is part of society, so it should maintain the same responsibilities as an ordinary citizen. Business will benefit from the solutions to social problems, so it should apply its core competencies to help alleviate them (Suderman, 1999).
Business, Technology and Environment
The following discussions which concerning the issues of technology and environment highlighted the actions of individuals which affect companies and other individuals. Basically, an extensive variety of technological advances in the late 19th and 20th centuries have transformed the human world (Street & Cameron 2007). These advances include advances in media (e.g., the television), production (e.g., miniaturization), communication (e.g., the Internet) and others (e.g., the home computer) (Street & Cameron 2007). These advances actually affect the "shrinking of the world." Or, to use another cliché, these technological revolutions build a "global village." One outcome is that we recognize that we are wandering on space-ship earth with only inadequate resources. Given this series of actions, an alarm with environmental issues is heightened. As citizens and as consumers, we become concern about the future and wonder whether or not there will be sufficient resources to guarantee that everybody has an opportunity to attain "the good life." As contributors in a capitalist economy, we roll to corporations to renovate our judgment into goods and services. In this logic, corporations are the instruments of our desires.
Basically, Street & Cameron (2007) stated that “environmental concerns” stand for an opportunity for business growth. That is, a corporation distinguishes that its consumers are not now environmentally concerned but would like to be. These circumstances could be deduced as an opportunity to lift up consumers' consciousness of environmental issues. In this context, business managers serve to lead a society toward a more ideal world.
Moreover, for consumer goods, what constitutes environment problems and issues at any moment keeps varying. This vibrant consumer market control suggests that the brands that become accustomed fastest to consumer demands will be potential leaders in the market (Ottman, 1992). Corporations can alter green into a competitive edge by mixing environmental arrangement into overall business tactics and forming associations with green groups and regulators (Ottman, 1992).
Manufacturers are discovering that not all goods that are good for our environment or the so-called green products are created equal. To maintain competitiveness in the dynamic market, manufacturers should be prepared to follow several pricing strategies. Green products or the products that are environmental friendly can be divided into at least two groups i.e. environmentally-friendly products, and recycled consumer goods. These groupings should be based on consumer perceptions of the products, and separate pricing strategies should be evaluated for each.
Today's market for recycled and recyclable goods is better than ever (Griffin, 1992). To take advantage of on this movement, administrators and sellers must endorse the ecological benefits of recycled goods and keep up prices in an array near that of the nonrecycled rivals. Endorsing the ecological sociability of recycled materials will be most striking to some customers, while qualities aimed at expediency will be eye-catching to others. Even though these aspects of the product mix are important, competitive pricing of recycled goods may be the key to capturing a significant market share. Once high market shares are reached, cost reduction programs should allow producers to increase profit margins from recycled products.
Social Responsibility
In a globalized economy where strong competitions occur among firms, companies are exploiting the benefits of social responsibility. These social activities: include discounts to senior citizens, charitable contributions, community service in volunteer or governance capacities, product warranties, expenditures on employee alcoholism and substance abuse treatment, employee education, responses to customer complaints, processes for exchanging purchases, child care or flexible hours for employees with children, advertising or promoting community events, sponsoring sports teams, recycling, special services to the handicapped, and so forth (Smith & Thompson, 1991). From this lists of social activities, it is much better if business organization focus their concerns to our environment. Actually, it is much better if they included their concerns to the environment to the overall business process.
Actually, most companies view social responsibility as an investment that will outcome in a long-run corporate proceeds and not a corporate expenditure. Business organisations supporting social responsibility tasks assert that it is in the finest long-run concern of the company to turn out to be thoroughly occupied in and to endorse and improve the areas in which it does its venture. Furthermore, it can and must get better the corporate and local image of the business, and it is in the stockholders best concern. Further, companies consider that by making societies a better place to live in, it can attract superior and happier employees to the business who in turn will put out enhanced products and amplify profits.
On the other hand, it is significant to point out that the main reason why businesses turn into socially responsible activities is to maximize their profits; public interests comes in second.
References:
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Stabler, M (ed.) (1997). Tourism and Sustainability: Principles to Practice, CAB International, New York.
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