Ethical Consumerism: Dell Coompany - Case Study Example

Ethical consumerism Executive summary Ethical consumerism is the consumers’ focus on the ethical production and distribution processes of goods in a company. In the contemporary market, consumers are more concerned about the safety of the products rather that the cost of the products. Ethical products are safe and their production processes do not have negative impacts on the environment. Dell has attained a top position among the most ethical firms worldwide. This is because of its commitment to its Code of Conducts. According to the firm’s conduct code, it is committed to producing high quality and safety products based on the legal requirements in each country. In addition, the company avoids criminal acts such as corruption and fraud. It is also committed to helping the community by participating in charity events. This has contributed to its good reputation in the market. Ethical consumerism Ethical consumerism refers to buying or using products that are ethically manufactured and delivered. In the current market world consumers highly value ethically produced goods (Payne 2012, P. 1). Examples of ethically produced goods include those that can be recycled. Companies that produced such kind of goods are viewed as ethical companies because they care about environmental sustainability. Such companies indicate how their products can be recycled on their product labels. In addition, the processes of producing the goods have to be ethical. For instance, ethical production includes avoiding child labor and overexploitation of workers. Buying goods that are produced by underpaid workers or slavery is not ethical consumerism (Payne 2012, P. 1). Other products that fall under ethical categories include those that organically produced goods. Such goods do not contain chemicals that may harm the health of consumers. Other products in this category include cosmetic, fashion, electronic and insurance products. By buying such goods one qualifies to be an ethical consumer. One can be an ethical consumer without knowing, however; ethical consumerism involves being aware of ethically produced goods in order to prevent abuse and exploitation. A company that operates ethically An example of a firm that claims to operate ethically is Dell Company. The company is ranked among the most ethical firms globally in the year 2014 (Ben 2014, p.1). The ethics and values of the company include carrying out its operations in integrity ways, focusing on accountability, and commitment to engage with its consumers and suppliers in ethical ways. The company has used various approaches in order to achieve the high position among the most ethical firms. a. Ethics and compliance The firm has been able to achieve its ethical goal through its code of conducts. Its conduct code has enabled it to comply with ethical rules in the market. The company has named its conduct code as “how we win” (Dell 2010, P. 2). It has provided guidance on how each participant in the organization carries out activities according to the purpose and values of the organization. The company code of conduct is aligned with legal requirements, ethical requirement, and the company policies. It also applies to all team members who consist of director, managers, and employees. In order to make the code of conduct effective, the organization has increased its workers engagement and commitment to the code. For instance, unlike other organizations, the company offers training to its workers about its conduct code. In the training programs workers are usually taught and inspired to be believers of the conduct code rather than just obeying it. According to the firm this has increased compliance to its ethical principles by all participants in organization. The organization believes that making employees to be believers of the conduct code makes them representatives of the company’s ethics and values (Ben 2014, p.1). This is because it encourages them to inspire others to engage in ethical activities. This enables employees to interact with customers in ethical ways. This strategy reflects the ethics and values of the organization which involves being a trustworthy and ethical company in order to build a good reputation. b. Commitment to its team The other approach the firm uses in order to be among the most socially conscious business includes being highly committed to its team members. Dell believes that its team members are connected to its values. The company values its relationship with its employees. For company to operate in ethical ways, it has to treat its workers fairly. For instance, dell has been able to maintain a good relationship with its employees by encouraging them to report issues and concerns (Dell 2010, P. 14). It allows team members to ask questions and report any misconduct without fear of victimization. According to the CEO of the company, the firm prohibits retribution against those who notify the organization about any misconduct in good faith. Among, the organization’s ethics and values include commitment to winning with integrity. As such, the organization takes the good faith reports seriously by conducting a thorough investigation while maintaining the confidentiality of the employees. This has reduced the level of harassment in the in the organization. In addition, the organization values fair labor. As such, it focuses on increasing diversity in the work places. The organization employs workers based on their skills and potential contributions to the organization without looking at their backgrounds. Dell believes that diversity does not only meet its ethical standards, but it also promotes innovation at the work place (Dell 2010, P. 16). The organization does not allow discrimination against its customers, employees, or stakeholders. It also offers diversity training to its workers in order to encourage them embrace diversity. This has not only enabled its workers to appreciate people’s different background but to also respect each other. By doing this the organization has built a good reputation and avoided legal issues related to work place discrimination. The organization’s commitment to its team is also proved by honoring the human rights. It values the health of its workers. As such, it focuses on creating a safe working environmental. For instance, the organization prohibits violence at the work place. It offers training to its worker on how to settle disputes and prevent conflicts the work place. It also prohibits possession of any kind of weapons at the work place. Bullying and threatening other employees is also not allowed in the organization. Maintaining a work place that is free of drugs and alcohol is also among the priority of the organization. According to the organizations, these substances may encourage violence and harm the health of its workers. Work place health and safety are also the top ethical priorities in the firm. It complies with the health safety standards set by the government laws and regulations. The company has also been able to maintain a good relationship with workers by respecting their privacy and communicating with them effectively. c. Commitment to share holders and customers Dell’s commitment ethics is also shown through its interactions with shareholders. It transparency is among its ethical values. Share holders value companies with high level of integrity. As such, it ensures that its financial statements are displayed publicly. It also ensures that its financial statements are accurate and are created based on the appropriate accounting principles and lawful requirements (Dell 2010, P. 30). This has enabled the organization to gain trust from its shareholders and customers. The company also avoids conflicts of interests. It has no tolerance for crimes such as theft and fraud. For instance, it ensures that it avoids ethical issues such stealing of intellectual property. The company is committed to its customers by ensuring that it produces harmless and trustworthy products. For instance, its innovations enable customers to get highly products according to their expectations. In addition, the company ensures that its products and production processes are aligned with the country’s laws and regulation. Before distributing it products, the company makes sure that they undergo thorough tests for them to meet high safety standards. According to the company, it does not sell harmful products to the environment or its customers. In order prove its commitment to safety of its consumers the organization conducts regular assessments in order to evaluate the credibility of its goods. It also involves the third party in its audit processes. Whenever the company detects any suspected safety issues, it takes correction measures in time. The company values its relationship with its customers. This has enabled it increase its sales while maintaining a good reputation in the market. The firm displays integrity by offering high quality products at reasonable prices. Dell has also been able to maintain high ethical standards by avoiding deceitful advertisement (Dell 2010, P. 41). According to the company, it delivers everything they promise consumers in their commercials. Deceitful advertisement may harm consumer and may contribute to high legal expenses. They also keep their customers information confidential. This includes their addresses and their financial information. Dell has been able to maintain the safety of its customers by complying with the government regulations in each country. d. Commitment to partners, communities, and environment The company values its reputation among its partners and the community. As such, it carries its activities based on its Corporate Social Responsibilities (Dell 2010, P. 50). Dell ensures that its activities do not harm the environment. For instance, it tries to eliminate environmental unfriendly materials in its products. The organization participates in environmental activities by labeling its products in order to educate consumers on how to effectively dispose electronic wastes. It ensures that its production processes comply with environmental regulations in very country. It also makes sure that its suppliers are supporting environmental sustainability. It order to reduce the negative effects of its transportation system on the environment, the organization has reduced the size of its products and introduced new designs. For instance, reducing the size of its products reduce the number of packages which will in turn reduce the number of trips required to deliver certain amounts of products. This helps in reducing the amount of fuel used in transportation which lowers the amount of carbon emission. In addition, the organization participates in charity events by funding environmental programs. This has helped in increasing environmental awareness. Dell’s ethical responsibility also involves helping the community. The company values generosity since it has strengthened its ethical standards. It makes charitable contributions and encourages its team to participate in charitable events. However, it ensures that the charity events to not conflict with its interests or destroys its image. In addition, Dell values fair competition in the market. As such, it ensures that its marketing strategies do not interfere with the activities of its competitors in the market by complying with business laws. It discourages bribery and corruption. According to the firm such misconduct may not only hinder its development, but may also affect its partners negatively. Opinion survey Questions 1. What is your age? 10 people participated in this survey. The average age of the respondents was 22 years. 2. Are you an ethical consumer? According the answers given by the respondents, all of them were ethical consumers. 3. In your opinion, what do you consider most when buying a product? Is it brand name or price? On this question, 8 of the respondents said that they consider the brand name of a company more. The rest consider price most. This shows that many consumers value companies’ reputation before buying. 4. What defines the firm’s ethics according to u? It is employees’ skills or a focus on sustainability? In this question, all the respondents said that they define a company’s ethics based on this commitment to sustainability. They thought employees’ skill reflects organizations focus on it productivity rather than ethics. 5. When buying a product, does the ethical standards of a company matter to you? Yes or No. All the respondents said that a firm’s ethical standards matter because it reflects the quality of its products and services offered 6. Do you conduct researches on companies’ ethics before engaging in any transactions? Three of the respondents said that they buy goods from random firms, while seven of them said that they conduct researches before buying in a company. This means that companies with high ethical standards are more likely to get more customers. 7. Do the companies in the country engage in ethical practices? Eight of the respondents said that most companies in the country do not engage in ethical practices due to the many reported unethical cases. Two of the respondents said they had no idea. 8. Do you think Dell Company deserves to be the most ethical company? Nine of the respondents said that they prefer dell because of its high quality products. One of the respondents said that he was not sure. 9. How much are you willing to pay for ethically produced goods? 30%, 60%, or 100%? Why? Two of the responded said 30 percent because they focus on price. Three of them said 60 percent because they said there should be a balance between quality and price. Five of them said 100 percent because they value quality more than price. 10. Do you prefer organizations that relate to customers well, or those whose prices are low? Two of the respondents preferred low process while the rest preferred good customer relations 11. Do your friends have influence on where you buy your products? Six of the respondents said their friends influence their buying choices while the rest answered negatively. This proves that companies with goods reputation are more likely to get more customers. 12. Do you consider being served by employees you can identify with in an organization? Four of the respondents claim that they do not care about employees that serve them while the rest prefer those they can identify with. This shows that diversified companies are more likely to serve more diverse customers. 13. Do commercials affect your attitude towards a product? All the respondents said commercials affects their buying choices. 14. Explain your worst buying experience in an organization. Most of the respondents complained of about poor quality customer services. Conclusion Ethical consumerism affects consumers buying choices. This is also reflected in Dell’s ethical approaches. Most of the consumers value company’s ethical standards rather than just prices. This is because companies with high ethical standards focus on delivering high quality products. In addition, they value the safety of its workers. High ethical standards positively affect how a company conducts its activities. This in turn enables it to create a good reputation in public. In the current market work, a good reputation is highly valued. Dell is among the companies that enjoy the impacts of good reputation in the global market because of its commitment to both its profitability and the interests of its customers. List of references Ben, D. 2014. Turning Employees into ethics believers. The Wall Street Journal. [Online] Available at http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/09/26/turning-employees-into-ethics-and-compliance-believers/ [7th November 2014] DeLL. 2010. How we Win: Our Code of Conduct. [Online] Available http://www.tnwinc.com/files/cc/dell.pdf [7th November 2014] Payne, J. 2012. Ethical consumerism and conservatisms- Hand in Glove. The Heinz Journal. [Online] Available http://journal.heinz.cmu.edu/2012/01/ethical-consumerism-and-conservatism-hand-in-glove-2/ [7th November 2014] Read More