How Do the Interests of Corporations Conflict with the Publics Interest - Book Report/Review Example

?How do the interests of corporations conflict with the public’s interest? Introduction The advent of globalization and the extensive advancement of technology today have made life easier for us. Sitting at the comfort of home, we can order for goods and services and those get delivered right in front of our doorstep. Today we can easily access the foreign brands anytime and anywhere. The corporations on the other hand are striving hard to satisfy our needs and demands. Now the question arises, who are “We”? “We” of course constitute the market. “We” are the customers. From the aspect of business, we are the revenue for the firms. “We” are also considered as a potential source for new orders and new customers. Therefore each and every firm tries hard to retain their existing customer base because it is believed that a satisfied customer is equal to an advertisement for the company and retaining the existing customer is more profitable than replacing them with the new ones. (Hawkins 2010 p.22). However in the process of competition among the firms, the aspects that suffer the most are the social factors, humanitarian grounds and public interest. The Corporation “The Corporation” is a work by Joel Bakan which deals with the history of corporations and the key features it exhibit today. In the book the author has discussed about the procedure of business conducted by the firms of the recent era and the impacts it has on the general people. The topic of corporate social responsibility has also been covered in the book and the work has been primarily addressed to the public at large making them aware of the malpractices of the corporations as well as the provoking attitude of the firms (Bakan 2005). Bakan in his book states the account of the organizations belonging to the 18th century and draws a comparison with the current corporate practices. During the past, the corporate structure was fairly exceptional and facilitated exclusively the methods for carrying out specific big projects for the interest of the public. Today the firms tend to govern our societies and economies. Greater emphasis can be found on the main attributes of management control and restricted liability, and on the reasonably modern notion that the organizations have a separate legal entity (Davies 2010 p.55), who might even have the benefit of several human rights. The writer puts further stress on the fact that financial controversies related to firms are not a new thing. Such scandals have always formed the part and parcel of the organizational framework of conducting business. The transformation in the early parts of 20th century, gave rise to the concept of corporate social responsibility, which is showcased as a response by the business organizations to the general public’s common threat about the power and size that corporations started to build up, and to the associated requirement of a stricter administrative regulation on them. The concept of the fiscal idea of externalities has been also mentioned in the book which argues that the organization’s propensity to outsource costs is at the source of most of the world’s environmental and social issues. Interesting instances has been presented in the text regarding the cost-benefit study within the car business where the passengers’ protection is considered to be the main concern. Unlawfulness in the business activity is universal, and it takes place from the- unethical character of the corporation And from the breakdown of the regulatory structure, due to laidback regulations and futile enforcement. The corporations today focus mainly on their own interest neglecting the harmful and long-lasting effect on the society at large. There were many commercials that were created for the promotion of a product but ended up in causing injury to the humanitarian interests. The complaints lodged regarding the commercials amounted to a total number of 25,214 complaints in 2010 among which 96% were lodged by the associates of the public forum and 4% belonged to the industry. The controversies were raised mainly focusing on the 13,074 adverts that encouraged sexually explicit ads and animal cruelty to a large extent (BBC NEWS 2011). Privatization and outsourcing seems to be profitable from the corporation’s perspective but as per the findings by the analysts, business outsourcing can no way provide an appropriate solution for the hiking costs in the market. Some organization doesn’t have the evaluation techniques in place to verify in advance that the outsourcing process will cut costs. Today outsourcing has become a trend than a necessity. Issues from inadequately envisaged contracts can generate cost increments that exceed the charges of domestic services. Also if there’s a substandard contract error, the government is susceptible to profiteering and corruption. The privatization of the public corporations can corrode transparency and accountability, and compel the governments into deeper debt traps. Susan Duerksen, the director of communications for “In the Public Interest”, which is a venture that evaluates the pros and cons of contracting and privatization, states that “Governments at all levels are just desperate to balance their budgets, and they’re grasping at privatization as a panacea.” (NICHOLS 2010) “But there’s evidence that it often is a very bad deal with hidden costs and consequences when you turn over public service to a for-profit company.” Conclusion Thus it can be concluded that in the modern corporate era the conflict of interest has become a key issue in public dispute throughout the world and this dispute is gaining strength not just in the private industry but also progressively more in the public corporate world. The infringement of hurdles between the private and public sectors by the means of the privatization of services and manufacturing units, private/ public joint ventures and swapping of the personnel has gradually formed opportunities for corruption and grey zones. Thus the necessity for free markets can be felt at an international level. A free-market economy is a certain state of affairs where all the industries within it are unfettered by any party except those who are the dominant players of the sector. In more simpler terms in this structure the administration plays a unbiased role in its legislation of financial activity and legal affairs, and neither does it limit (by controlling industries or shielding them from external/ internal market forces) nor does it actively promote the firms (by taking fiscal interests or by presenting subsidies to the R&D and business process). Works Cited Hawkins, Del. I. Consumer Behavior. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2010. Print. NICHOLS, RUSSELL. The Pros and Cons of Privatizing Government Functions. Governing the States and Localities. 2010. Web. BBC NEWS. What makes ads controversial? 2011. Web. Davies, Paul Lyndon. Introduction to Company Law. New York: Oxford University Press. 2010. Print. Bakan, Joel. The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. New York: Free Press. 2005. Print. Read More