Corporate social responsibility and business ethics are important to promoting a company’s overall image while simultaneously allowing a company to use its resources and influence for the greater good. In order to succeed in being socially responsible and ethical, a company must have a sincere desire to consider more than monetary gain when making business decisions, taking into account the impact of the corporation’s business decisions on the local community as well as the world at large.
Before changing its current procedures, Company Q must set forth a set of procedures and standards to be implemented among all stores which will ensure that the company maintains its ethical practices. A set of core values must be implemented to ensure that the company continues to have a sincere desire to act ethically and perform ethically even when the action may be considered risky or unpopular. In addition, the company must devote itself to understanding and meeting the needs of its customers and stakeholders, putting the customer above all else. Company Q should also develop a guide which outlines employee conduct standards such as strict regulations concerning the use of drugs and alcohol, employee safety, health, and privacy, and regulations which will assist the employee in making ethical decisions. Company Q must also make available to employees all information regarding the reporting of misconduct to higher-level and corporate management, opening the door for communication and helping to ensure that ethical standards are being met while allowing employees to improve their own workplace.
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"Corporate Social Responsibility And Business Ethics".
In the case of Company Q, the company currently holds a negative attitude toward business activities which are traditionally considered as socially responsible. Company Q’s attitude errs on the side of ignorance to the way in which the business’s decisions have the potential to negatively impact a community in that it seems that the socially responsible options have been completely disregarded by the company when making its business decisions. By making decisions solely on the basis of lost revenue through thefts and perceived chance of theft, both internally by employees and externally by customers, the company has to this point ignored the needs of the immediate community and seems to not have considered the ways in which the chain can enhance the areas in which its stores are located. In addition to resolving to focus on the company’s profitability, Company Q has also disregarded the health of the community in discontinuing the sale of healthier foods, which goes against the socially responsible practice of caring for the community’s needs. Company Q has also put the community in jeopardy financially by removing its store location an impoverished neighborhood, ignoring the immediate problem and instead uprooting itself from the community rather than attempting to find solutions which will assist the community as well as Company Q as a whole. Company Q has similarly failed to implement new company-wide procedures as problems arise. Such a practice can affect employee well-being as well as company morale and productivity. Company Q has missed out on several opportunities through three specific business decisions which could be used to promote their overall image while simultaneously promoting wellness among the community where Company Q stores are located.
One way through which Company Q could better serve the community would be to maintain the stores it previously had in higher-crime areas of the city. Rather than closing the stores, which removes jobs from the immediate area and thus add to the poverty level within the community, the company should maintain its stores in the areas which it had closed due to revenue loss which was likely attributed to shoplifting. Rather than closing the store, Company Q should find other ways through which to prevent shoplifting within their stores. For example, the company could increase its staff to ensure that the store is filled with more employees, which is likely to discourage shoplifting in aisles which would be otherwise empty due to limited staffing. Company Q may also find it advantageous to hire a security guard to help discourage shoplifting in its stores. By hiring additional staff, Company Q not only maintains its position in the community, providing a local grocery store for those in the community that may not have ease of access to transportation to travel to other stores, it simultaneously would be supporting jobs within the community and assisting in the community’s economic wellbeing. This would be a wise and socially responsible decision on the part of the company as these stores will still contribute to the chain’s overall revenue while providing many benefits to the immediate community.
Company Q could also assist the community by offering organic and healthy products which, while customers felt they were overpriced, could assist in the company’s profits as well as cater to those customers who prefer to consume organic and health-conscious products. There is no doubt that organic and health-conscious products are quite popular among consumers currently and Company Q could certainly capitalize on this market, even in lower-income neighborhoods. In offering these higher-margin products, Company Q would benefit from lowering the prices on these items to make them more affordable. Because these items are high-margin, the company will still make a substantial profit despite lowering their prices, offering quality and health-conscious products at a reasonable price. To save on costs, and to also promote community wellbeing, Company Q could also consider purchasing produce, including organic produce, from local farms. By purchasing locally, Company Q would be able to stimulate revenue into the local economy while saving on the costs of importing organic produce from outside of the immediate area. Often, when a consumer realizes that a product is of high quality, organic, and is locally grown, they are likely to justify a slightly higher price over a similar product which has been imported from Mexico and is considered to be less healthy due to chemical processing and the use of pesticides.
Lastly, Company Q should reconsider its decision to throw away day-old products as opposed to donating them to a local food shelter. Of all the options Company Q has in improving its attitude toward corporate social responsibility, this one is the easiest and least costly. Since the products are already being thrown away, the company is already losing any revenue which could have been gained in the event that those products were sold within the timeframe of their shelf life. The concern of employee dishonesty is valid and rather than dismiss the donation of the day-old products based on an assumption that employees are being dishonest, Company Q should develop a better ethics program which encourages ethical behavior among its employees. In addition, the company should launch an investigation when it is suspected that such dishonest acts are being conducted by employees, reprimanding any involved parties. Even in the event that employees are taking some of the day-old products home, these products are being better utilized by employees who may have a genuine need for such items as opposed to simply being disposed of.
Evaluating, auditing, and maintaining these new standards are essential in allowing Company Q to regain its position as a socially responsible corporation. A higher-level company manager should make it a point to regularly visit all Company Q locations on a monthly basis to ensure that the new standards are being met, speaking with employees from all levels about the progress which has been made in each individual store as well as the improvements which employees have seen among the community. In order to evaluate the ways in which the new standards are affecting the company as well as the community, higher-level management may find it useful to distribute customer surveys to shoppers at the Community Q location as well as to various members of the immediate community in store locations. These surveys can be measured to ensure that the community feels that Company Q is making a positive impact on the neighborhood as well as the world at large. Proper evaluation and auditing will assist in maintaining these new standards, adjusting as necessary if negative evaluations are reported by higher-level management to the CEO and other key stakeholders of the company. In cases of negative evaluations, an audit should be performed in which a member of higher-level management requests receipts and other documentation which illustrate that the company has been maintaining its ethical practices. For example, a signed log from the food pantry taking in expired goods would be required to show that Company Q has made regular donations to the food pantry. In severe cases, disciplinary actions should be implemented to store managers who fail to meet the standards and fail an audit set forth by the corporate partners. These actions may include mandatory classes on ethical behaviors or termination.
Overall, Company Q should reconsider many of its recent business decisions in light of the socially responsible options which the company can take in order to improve its overall image as well as to assist in community development and well-being. Through maintaining stores in lower-income and impoverished areas which provide jobs and stimulate the local economy, offering organic and health-conscious, locally farmed produce, and donating day-old products to community food shelters Company Q can promote a positive and socially responsible attitude while bringing in revenue and promoting community wellbeing.
