What are a Companies Biggest Assets?

    This week we were asked to read the article "What's a Business for?" By Charles Handy. It was an interesting article to read about the ethics and values that large corporations are putting aside to make a larger profit. The biggest questions that kept coming to my mind were "But at who's cost"?  and "How is this going to play out in the long run?" 

    Many claim that the focus of many of the large corporations has changed from customer service to profits rather than leaving a mark on the work. Shockingly many smaller companies are following suit. The customer is no longer right, the product integrity is being compromised to save a buck or two and the value of its employees has changed to view them as a cost rather than assets.

1. Why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

• Value and integrity create a check and balance for a company. When you forget that, you forget what you stand for and why you started the company in the first place. Your word and product are no longer valued.

• When that check and balance go out the window so do your values. You don't care about your integrity or who you step on in the process, just as long as you look good in the end and the numbers are all that you care about.

2. According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

"The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something” becomes the real justification for the business.”

• Companies cannot just be about money, if they are, they will not go very far. Too many companies forget what makes them successful. It is beyond a good or amazing product. In the end, it is how the customer feels and is treated and the hard work of their employees. The company is not going to get very far unless their customers are happy, and their employees feel valued.

3. What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

• Handy talks a lot about the importance of seeing and treating the employee of a company as an asset rather than a cost. In the article, he talked about how in some corporations that CEOs were making roughly 400 times the amount of their lowest-paid employee. At first, I didn’t give it a 2nd glance, until I put it to a calculator. The federal minimum wage is $7.25. So, I based my calculations on a part-time employee. $7.25 x 20= $145 a CEO would be making for the same number of hours would be making $58,000! Yes, I know and understand that they do more and have more stress and responsibility but that is ridiculous.

"Nothing will destroy a great employee faster 

than watching an employer tolerate and reward the bad ones"

    When an employee is valued you will see much more out of them than you will one who is not. On the flip side, the employee cannot expect anything. They too need to work with integrity and have a driving force within them.

•      The 2nd point that he spoke about was about the importance of Corporations to give back to the communities. 

"We should, as charitable organizations do, 

measure success in terms of outcomes 

for others as well as for ourselves."

    Companies that serve and give back attract more customers. No one expects companies to go bankrupt. But making 400 times your lowest employee spells greed and screams that you are power-hungry, which is not attractive!

    As a consumer, I am more inclined to give my businesses to those companies that treat me as a customer with respect. I don’t want to be looked down upon or belittled. I want my little business or time in their store to be just as important as their largest client. At the same time, I am very observant of how their employees are treated. If you have treated me with respect and earned my trust, I am a loyal customer. Cost is not a factor.