Jun
30
2010
homes Once again, I experienced why ethics is so critical for today’s small business owners and why many small business owners just don’t get it.
The other day I was invited to a networking event from someone whom I had just met at another networking event. He said that there would be some time for us to get to know each other better, information presented about his company and there would be opportunity to meet some potential prospects. I asked two very direct questions that I advise all my entrepreneurial and small business clients to ask:
- Would those in attendance be in my target market of small business owners of $1 million to $10 million in sales?
- Is this a multi-level marketing event?
I was told emphatically Yes and No. So I agreed to come because I believe in power networking: Attending as many networking events that are in or potentially in your target market.
juegos carreras A recent Tweet was ‘Business ethics is an oxymoron’ - a well used phrase but one which never fails to get my goat. My initial reaction was to reply saying, “Why is it that we feel we must accept an outdated view of business as ‘dog-eat-dog, each bastard for themselves’? Can’t we instead embrace the social collaboration of value creation that modern capitalism can be if only we all try?” - but that was more than 140 characters. So I thought perhaps I’d try to explain my view in a bit more fully.
real estate investing A successful business is obviously one who seeks and achieves economic growth. Milton Friedman’s famous assertion that “A business’s only responsibility is to its shareholders” is often quoted as the ethical foundation of capitalism. In seeking to act responsibly to anyone other than the stockholders of the business, owners and managers are actually behaving unethically. But does this argument really hold much water?
If a successful business is one which seeks and achieves (sustainable) economic growth, how does it do this? It is likely to be working with suppliers who understand its needs and works innovatively to provide it with the best product or service. It is likely to provide value-rich products or services for its customers. It will be complying with legislation and working in all ways to act justly. In short, it will be taking into account multiple stakeholders to achieve the best possible return for each.
This much broader view of responsibilities - Stakeholder Theory - has been around for quite some time and owes much to the work of R. Edward Freeman. In his words, “For any business to be successful it has to create value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities and financiers (shareholders, banks, the people with the money).”
The interests of all the stakeholders must be considered and best integrated in a broad-fronted quest for value creation. In finding the common ground of these stakeholders - rather than seeking only to mitigate against conflict and searching for trade-offs - businesses are better able to create value for all.
Small business owners have limited time and need to leverage every moment to build their business. Networking is one such activity. Yet, when other small business owners take advantage of their colleagues through the demonstration of unethical business core values, then everyone loses.
I am sure that this national firm will continue to grow because many individuals want that magic pill for success. However, I believe that by being a lot more ethical, this firm and some of the other similar firms could grow with greater speed and not earn the negative unethical reputation as a cult based multi-level marketing firm You can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.
Tags: business ethics, homes, juegos carreras, real estate investing
