Ethics of Business Leadership
Take Home Essay: Question 2
A publicly-owned company’s foundation is its key to survival. That foundation is made up of primary and secondary stakeholders. When a company is faced with the dilemma of having principal shareholders demanding more short-term profits, as well as the buzz of the media and community demanding for more investment into local philanthropy, it leaves for some important decisions to be made. The decisions made will directly affect the company either positively or negatively. As the president of the company, I’m faced with making a decision which is in the best interest of the company, while at the same time trying to keep both the shareholders and the media and community happy. It is in the best interest for me as the company’s president to make our primary focus on investing more into philanthropy and building our company’s image which will generate loyalty in customers and ultimately increase profits.
When it comes to making decisions as the president of the company, it is important to understand the concepts of shareholder orientation as well as stakeholder orientation. Many companies seem to be driven by shareholder orientation which focuses very much on a narrow view of the business and is purely driven to just maximize profits (Ferrell 34). As the president I feel that it is my duty to ensure that all the primary stakeholders as well as secondary stakeholders are kept happy and satisfied. To ensure this, it is very important to focus on stakeholder orientation which is a modern, broader view of the purpose of a business, and strives towards satisfying interests of all stakeholders which will ultimately generate revenue for the company and lead to success (Ferrell 34).
Having made the decision to focus on investing more into philanthropy, it is important that the shareholders understand the reasoning behind my decision. This is because as a company we can not afford to have them...