Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Business Ethics - Essay Example It has been argued that business owners, or stockholders, have an obligation to in some sense repay the society that allowed it to be. Others suggest that providing jobs and contributing to the tax base is repayment enough. Whichever of these perceptions one subscribes the fact that employees of a company have but a single responsibility, to make money for the owners, is not in question. A chief executive officer may act as the ‘brains’ of the corporation but they are an employee and are bound both by ethical consideration and by federal law to make decisions intended to increase company profits. Of course company employees are expected to obey the law and in act in accordance with customary public ethical guidelines but mainly because this is in the best interest of the company and not because the company itself has a moral obligation. The end result justifies any means by which to achieve it including the destruction of the environment as well as the financial gouging of customers and employees. Corporations do have social responsibilities and society should demand corporate adherence to those responsibilities. Employees cannot simply give away company funds to their favorite charity. That would be irresponsible, unethical and illegal. Certainly, company officials are also individuals whose conscience extends past workplace concerns. The person outside the corporation may feel a duty to voluntarily give their time and money to charities, the church, community and family. In these instances, the individual is not acting as the agent of the giving but the principal. They are spending their own time and money or time and not the resources of a company. â€Å"If these are ‘social responsibilities,’ they are the social responsibilities of individuals, not business† (Friedman, 1970). Though the view that business do not have a social responsibility is logical and fits the capitalist ideology on which the country was built, others ar gue that the self-serving goals of corporate America has created a value system not only separate but in opposition to that of society. This reality is apparent not only in the U.S. but in many other countries as well, both in the developed world and Third World nations. The banking debacle in Mexico escalated its national debt by $80 billion due to the government financially bailing out unscrupulous shareholders who were in league with government officials at the taxpayer’s expense. When Argentina privatized most of the public works departments, corporations stole money from millions of Argentinean citizens. In Europe, the pharmaceutical industries essentially regulated themselves due to their influence within the government. The drug companies did not sufficiently test its products interested only in profits and not the benefits of the drugs for patients. Steps have since been taken to reduce the harm committed by this type of corporate corruption. Many suggest that the sit uation in the U.S. today involving pharmaceutical company influence and the consequential affects is hauntingly similar. (Borger, 2001) Of course corporate corruption in the U.S. is sadly legendary in scope. The recent banking and Wall Street debacle in the U.S. is expected to cost taxpayers into the trillions of Dollars. The Bernie Madoff scandal, Worldcom, Tyco and Enron are but a few of examples of fraudulent practices by company heads which cost thousands of people millions of dollars including

SWOT ANALYSIS for Commercial Real Estate Campany (LANSCO) Research Paper

SWOT ANALYSIS for Commercial Real Estate Campany (LANSCO) - Research Paper Example LANSCO is a reliable name in real estate business for last four decades in United States and has expanded its operations in more than 80 real estate market worldwide. LANSCO offers a complete range of real estate services that include but not limited to advisory services, sales and leasing services. LANSCO clientele comprises of commercial and retail sellers and leasers. LANSCO can provide valuable help and support to its individual or corporate clients in selling and leasing properties, offices etc. LANSCO strengthens its corporate business through a sister firm Corfac (Corporate Facility Adviser) and use valuable experience of other firms that have been in real estate business for at least last two decades through X Team to facilitate its retail commercial real estate clients. (LANSCO, 2011) This essay will apply SWOT analysis to ascertain the internal strengths, weaknesses and external opportunities and threat facing LANSCO. However, it must be bear in mind that the analysis is no t rigorous in it nature and covers only few aspects of the company which can later on be utilize for further probes into the state of affairs. Strengths The company has been in the real estate business for quite some time and has an established goodwill among various segments of the society. This goodwill is the most important, intangible and valuable strength of a company. LANSCO has succeeded in retaining and reinforcing its hard earned goodwill and has an infinite scope of the utilizing this goodwill in a befitting manner. This goodwill can provide leverage in the organizational functions of sales, marketing and production. The experience of being in the market for more than 45 years is the second most important strength of the company. There is no alternative of experience in the world and the worth and strength this experience adds to the company is beyond estimates. This experience can be further utilized to develop valuable human resource that can serve the company in the fac e of upcoming opportunities and threat. Experience can be very handy in almost every organizational function like sales & marketing, finance & accounting, management of resources including human resources, research & development, production, and information systems. Real estate business requires deep rooted social networking and LANSCO is blessed with a wide, reliable and exponential social network that range from individual customers to corporate friends and affiliates. Networking is an important requirement in advance marketing and sales operations and can provided added benefits and competitive advance to the firm. LANSCO’s network can bring it to new business horizon it is exploited to its real strength. Weaknesses The company is in a wide range of real estate businesses and can claim to be pioneers in the industry. However, its web presence is marginally satisfactory. The World Wide Web offers innumerable opportunities to any kind of business in today’s world. Spe cially, for a firm like LANSCO, whose intended clients are beyond the tangible borders of United States can exploited WWW boom to its advantage in a more befitting manner than how it is currently utilizing the technology. ICT technologies have a lot more to offer to businesses like LANSCO in the upcoming years as more and more clients prefer to visit the online resources of any firms before they actually