Business, Government and Society Homework Help

Business, Government and Society

PART A: Nonmarket issues that affect the industry and company
With the onset of globalization, competition between firms in the business environment has been ever increasing. This has forced firms and organizations to devise new ways of sustaining competitive advantages. One of the ways is by adopting a corporate strategy that ensures that social, political and environmental issues are addressed effectively. Business firms especially in the modern business environment are faced with forces that act either within or outside the market system. These are factors that provide order to the market. These issues have implications on various business policies of an organization.
Background of Wal-Mart Stores
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is considered the largest retail company in the US and it has been rated to be larger than any other retail chain the world. Since its inception, the company has grown substantially. Currently, the company has approximately 5,000 retail facilities both in domestic and international markets. Wal-Mart dominates markets in the United Kingdom, Mexico and Canada. By total sales, Wal-Mart is ranked the most powerful corporation in the world. The company provides general merchandise such as health &beauty aids, fabrics, crafts, jewelry, electronics, household needs and apparel among other things.
Despite the numerous achievements, Wal-Mart is faced with non-market issues that affect their business operations. Like other business firms, Wal-Mart creates and distributes value. In its pursuit, the company is affected by a plethora of actors informally through social pressure and activists’ efforts who tend to influence the perception of the general public. In order to survive in the competitive market, the company has always stretched its competitive playing field beyond market issues. Currently, the company is on top of the game in the retail industry because of its ability to address these issues. The firm has effective corporate and management strategies which emphasize on handling all the nonmarket issues.
Nonmarket Issues that Affect Retail Industry and Wal-Mart
Every business firms has social responsibilities to fulfill. They have to adopt policies that ensure that these responsibilities. Like other industries, retail industry is faced with a vast range of nonmarket issues that have far-reaching effect on their businesses. The firm’s business policies have led to negative environmental and labor issues. There are numerous allegations that the firm’s business policies adversely affect the surrounding local community.
Being the largest private employer in the US, Wal-Mart has more 1.4 million associates. The company has a strong customer base estimated to be more than 100 million. The firm has always focused on delivering quality products and services to all these customers. Over time, Wal-Mart has successfully delivered products at relatively low prices due to its efficient processes. It is reported that the company is currently growing at rate of 15%, something which seems impractical in the modern business environment. As such, this situation has attracted public attention. Consequently, a number of articles are being published every day about the retail industry. Most of these articles are authored by individuals who believe that some of the key players in the industry are failing to address non-market issues. Various allegations have been leveled against the firm arising from nonmarket issues. The primary nonmarket issues concern effects of Wal-Mart operations on the natural environment, effect of its products on consumers’ health, wages and benefits available to the employees and impacts of its rapid expansion on other small firms in the retail food industry.
Low Wages and Inadequate Health Benefits
As the largest private employer in the United States, the firm has made headlines on several occasions. In most cases, these headlines revolved around firm’s infamous employment principles and practices. The firm has been heavily criticized for its human resource management policies. In 2012, the company realized a significant net income of more than $11 billion. In amid of this considerable achievement, the firm received more than 5,000 lawsuits every year. According to MarshalI- (2012), employees in the organization are treated unfairly. Employees are transferred from one region to another without clear explanations or their consent. Wal-Mart has always been against workers union. In 2012, workers of Wal-Mart store in Quebec managed to form a union. In response, the company decided that it would close this store on economic grounds. However, it became apparent that the company decided to take this move in order to sabotage the workers union. Mattera (2013) points out that the workers in the retail food industry are being exploited and the act is profound at Wal-Mart Corporation. In September 2012, the International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against the firm for exploiting workers in foreign countries. The complainant argued that the firm denied minimum age and required them to work over time without pay. It was also alleged that employees were beaten by supervisors in some regions. It has been reported several times that Wal-Mart has had the tendency of violating child labor rights. Workers in different Wal-Mart’s stores have complained of inadequate healthcare being accorded. According to Mattera (2013), Wal-Mart workers are sicker than the US national population. The workers in most regions utilize limited emergency rooms in case of injuries instead of being taken to hospitals. Last year, the firm passed policies and recommendations that would lead to reduction in health care spending for its workers (Workplace Fairness, 2013).

Harming the natural environment
For many decades, Wal-Mart’s reputation has been severely damaged by criticism and legal troubles for negative effects of business operations on the natural environment. Community activists in the United States have always blamed the firm for causing damage to the neighborhoods where it operates its stores. The activists have been slamming the firm for litany of harmful effects on the natural environment. According to Kurtzleben (2012), Wal-Mart’s business operations have been emitting million of tons of CO2. The firm has also been destroying the natural environment by building mammoth size warehouse stores. In the last decade, the firm tried to itemize its environmental achievements in its Global Responsibility Report. From the report, the company kept 81% of all its waste out of landfills. Despite these efforts, the firm is always under microscope. Kurtzleben further suggests that Wal-Mart uses same amount of energy as 1,100 households in the United States do every day. Various environmental groups have raised various issues against Wal-Mart. In 2010, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) blasted Wal-Mart for establishing stores in the outskirts of cities. This means that consumers have to drive further in order to access the stores. In the recent past, the firm launched a massive grocery operation that operates all the time. In effect, this has encouraged industrialized farming hence more energy is consumed. Wal-Mart has been accused of “green washing” in order to win customers’ favor. With its massive grocery operation, the firm has promoted an industrialized food system in the US thus leading to reduction in the natural resources.
Wal-Mart accused of driving out small businesses
Wal-Mart is a well established company with strong capital base. Therefore, it is capable of opening large business stores anywhere. In 2006, the firm opened a large store in Austin. At the moment, there were more than 306 businesses in the region. However, this number had reduced to less than 80 by 2009. Research indicates that the closure of this business was due to the presence of new Wal-Mart store. The firm take advantage of economic of large scale hence they can offer prices for its products at relatively lower price. Attempts by other small businesses to compete for customers in the same market are unbearable since they cannot achieve a breakeven point. This accusation has been disputed by Wal-Mart arguing that its stores promote the growth of other small businesses hence resulting to robust economic growth (Berg, 2012).

PART B
Question One
In order to realize success in the modern business environment, firms and organizations must adopt and implement ethics and principles that guide their operations. It is a matter of fact that social values and technology is rapidly changing over time. As such, tensions are expected to be experienced when implementing the adopted ethics and principles (Coughlin, Soskolne & Goodman, 1997).
i. Balancing of individual and organization’s rights
It is important for managers to balance between the rights of organizations and the individuals that would be affected by the ethics and principles to be adopted. For instance, a manager of a health institution has to pass principles require the organization to quarantine an individual identified to be suffering from a communicable disease. Isolation of subjects of communicable diseases is a standard health practice especially in the past. However, application of such principles or practices in the modern times often generates tensions (Coughlin, Soskolne & Goodman, 1997).
ii. Conflict of Interests
In reference to a public health organization, employees are always employed by the state whereas health researchers are often engaged by academic institutions. Ethically, the health care practitioners are required to remain impartial throughout their undertakings and devoid of conflict of interest. However, health practitioners employed by private firms or corporations are affected by this principle owing to the fact that they pay depend on the company they work for. In most cases, government tends to pressurize these workers to be free from conflict of interests thus generating tensions. This tension often affects the decision-making processes in private organization since they have to factor it.
iii. Privacy, informed consent and confidentiality
It is ethical for health care workers to be secretive about health data. Governments around the world have advocated for protection of people’s health data. While this principle is necessary, it negatively affects valuable health research activity. Maintaining privacy, confidentiality and informed consent are integral elements in most organizations particularly in the health sector. However, full disclosure has been considered important especially for research purposes (Soskolne & Light, 1996).
iv. Beneficence or paternalism
There are certain functions that are enforced by an organization. There are certain programs and interventions that certainly have benefits to both workers and the organizations. However, enforcing them might undermine respect for autonomy. When the managers do something to safeguard its workforce, the workforce itself may hold different views and values and may feel that the management or the organization’s action is paternalistically. This tension often forces managers to engage all employees in matters that affect them in the working environment (Soskolne & Light, 1996).
v. Research integrity
In some cases, researchers are forced to make recommendations that are not objective or subjective purposely to protect an organization. For example, an epidemiologist has an ethical duty to pursue thorough research and act on the findings. However, this health care practitioner may be forced to make wrong recommendations in order to protect the health organization. This means that the purpose of the health institution to protect the lives of the people is undermined. In most cases, managers tend to choose the balance between impartiality and advocacy (Soskolne & Light, 1996).
Question Two
Infant Formula in Developed Countries
Infant formula was developed in the 1920s in the United States, and has been successfully adopted by other developed countries. The program was meant to provide medical alternatives to breast milk for affected mothers. By 1970s, about 80 percent of all American babies were fed through the infant formula. Despite the fact that the alternative was highly welcomed and received, various ethical issues surrounding infant formula have emerged. People around the world have questioned the appropriateness of the alternative. The alternative has been marketed across the globe, but the process has been marred by numerous ethical issues (Watson, 2013).
Like other business firms around the world, manufacturers of infant formula have corporate responsibility to fulfill. They are required by the society to ensure that the products do not cause harm to the consumers. With advancement in technology, manufacturers of these products have ethical responsibility to testing and analyzing of milk and other constituents of infant formula to ascertain health benefits and risks to the consumers. The firms should invest a great deal of resources on research and development to find how the product can be produced. In the rapid moving marketing environment, the manufacturers of these products are required to observe full due diligence particularly when performing clinical trials and launching the product. Most firms have failed to observe this recommendations hence resulting to various claims (Watson, 2013).
Another eminent ethical issue is that manufacturers should ensure that their products have food labeled regulations to be used by the users. The CEO of the manufacturing company has the responsibility of ensuring that the Manufacturing, Marketing, R & D and Quality Assurance departments corporate so as to ensure that harmless products are availed to the consumers. Marketers of this product should be guided by the principle of full due diligence especially when pursuing clinical trials so as to ensure safety of the participants. In some cases, the ethical responsibility of CEO and the various departments on ensuring that the products cannot be realized in case a conflict of interest exists between organization’s profit and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Research and science plays an important role in infant formula in ensuring that testing and analysis of the constituents of infant formula are properly carried out. In a case where the entire leadership fraternity is now willing to take risks, there are high chances that risk assessment will be shallow as it was in the incident in China during 2007 (Watson, 2013).

References
Berg, N. (2012). Radiating Death: How Wal-Mart Displaces Nearby Small Businesses. Retrieved November 2013 from http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/09/radiating-death-how-walmart-displaces-nearby-small-businesses/3272/
Coughlin, S., Soskolne, L. & Goodman, K. (1997). Case Studies in Public Health Ethics. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Kurtzleben, D. (2012). Wal-Mart Struggles to Overcome Environmental Criticism. Retrieved November 2013 from http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/04/20/walmart-struggles-to-overcome-environmental-criticism-
Mattera, P. (2013). Wal-Mart: Corporate Rap Sheet. Retrieved November 11, 2013 from http://www.corp-research.org/wal-mart
MarshalI, J. (2012). Wal-Mart’s Labor problem: Limit to the Low-Rate Model. Retrieved November 11, 2013 from http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/files/2012/10/WalmartLaborProblem.pdf
Watson, J. (2013). Watson Dairy Consulting: Corporate Social Responsibility. Retrieved November 11, 2013 from http://www.dairyconsultant.co.uk/corporate_responsibility.php#
Workplace Fairness (2013). The Good, the Bad and Wal-Mart. Retrieved November 2013 from http://www.workplacefairness.org/reports/good-bad-wal-mart/wal-mart.php