Enron: Social Responsibility in Developing Strategic Plan - Essay Example

I. Explain
Ethics or doing what is right is expressed in the company’s corporate social responsibility and is the core value that drives and animates it. While ethics resides in the abstract of ideals of intending to do the right thing, corporate social responsibility on the other hand materializes this ideal through concrete acts in the various operations of the business.
Ethics in a business context, however, is easier said than done and we need not research far on how the lack of it can make a company wayward such as the examples of Enron, Worldcom, and many others. This explains ethics needs to be integrated into the business organization’s strategic plan. Putting in practice to produce the ideal behavior of an organization and its employees can be a challenge and this can be possible by integrating ethics right at the core of the strategic plan. Business, with its profit motive when left unchecked has the tendency to resort to unethical practice to realize its profit motive and this can only be prevented by enunciating at the core of the company’s values and strategies that it will do business ethically.

Finocchio, the former CEO and chairman of Informix Corp., expressed how ethics is can concretely integrate into the company’s strategic plan and ultimately, in the business practices through its socially responsible acts. He prescribed that “ethics should be part of the company's mission statement, long-term strategic plan, public pronouncements, and codes of conduct”. This is the only way to make ethics a "cornerstone of the organizational culture" by integrating it in the core of the strategic plan right at the definition of the most basic question of the business such as “what do we stand for? What is our purpose? What values do we have?” (Schulman, 2012).

The integration of ethics in the strategic plan would reinforce the ideal behavior that the company intends to have and will enable the company to project a positive image through their socially responsible acts that inspire confidence among its various stakeholders that would enhance its bottom line as a business enterprise.

II. Explain ethical perspective has evolved throughout the program
The changing business landscape and the demands of the business various stakeholders have changed the ethical perspective from a mere prerogative to a business imperative. This is expressed in the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, not an addition to a company’s PR work but a tangible business practice whereby a company does not only conforms with the minimum requirement of the regulatory agencies but also consciously exercise an ethical business practice. Corporate social responsibility has also an economic value. When CRM is integrated into a company’s culture, it reinforces that desired behavior that supports the objective of having a good brand that would enable the company to project a positive image that could ultimately lead to the public’s confidence and therefore enhance the company’s bottom line. In short, being ethical is more profitable for a business not to mention that the company is relieved not only from government prosecution and fines because it always does what is right but also as a competitive advantage because customers now tend to patronize companies who are ethical.

Gone are times when a business has to be callous in its pursuit to make a profit. The time when ethics and doing things right are perceived to be added cost is already passé because the demands for the business are already changing. Customers, suppliers, stakeholders are now demanding integrity, transparency, and straightforwardness in business transactions and this calls for corporate social responsibility.

Enterprises who failed in this aspect received so much flak not only from regulatory agencies from fines or criminal prosecution but also from the media that are vociferous towards the unethical acts. Worst is the reception of the market where customers are now unforgiving towards unethical business enterprises because it is affecting their purchasing decisions not to patronize certain unethical companies.