Foot Locker Inc and Machiavellis Ideas Presented in the Prince - Case Study Example

• On The Book Prince and Foot Locker, Inc

• Introduction

Foot Locker Inc. is a footwear and sportswear retailer company based in the United States. The headquarter of the company is located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company has set up its business activities in 20 countries and is successfully handling its operations across the globe. It manufactures a range of footwear outlets consisting of athletic footwear, kids’ footwear outlets and women Foot Locker stores. The company is operating with due consideration to higher social values and has undertaken varied social attributes that will support the development of the company (Foot Locker Inc., 2016). Companies operating within the current global dimension can be correlated with the diverse philosophical views stated by authors belonging from different eras. One such philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli has made immense contribution to the field of social science. Many views that are stated by the philosopher are noted to be evident within the practices of modern corporations performing in the current complex social context. The most important aspect that the philosopher has depicted is the craving for position. This craving for position has always been the focus of all individuals as well as the corporations operating within a nation. However, a debate regarding the Machiavelli’s application to the present management processes followed by corporations is evident (JSTOR, 2016). There exist an apparent connection between the modern corporations and Machiavelli’s ideas as presented in his writing (Galie & Bopst, 2006).

With these considerations, the essay intends to illustrate a comparison amid the ideas of Machiavelli presented in Prince, one of his most acclaimed books in the periphery of political philosophy and the principles followed by Foot Locker Inc. in its business operations by providing arguments and counter arguments accordingly.

Comparison between Foot Locker Inc and Machiavelli’s idea’s Presented in the Prince

Machiavelli’s ideas about nature of human beings and the diverse leadership followed for gaining power within a society is still applicable. The views of leadership as depicted by Machiavelli’s in the book “The Prince” can be substantiated by the different practices followed by Foot Locker Inc. The craze for power and rule as depicted in “The Prince” reflects Machiavelli’s belief about a leader and his attribute with regard to be morally trusted if he wants to have power and be able to retain the power among his believers. Foot Locker Inc. has earned an essential position in the corporate world, as the company has been able to generate trust among the customers, which has helped it in maintaining its position in the market (Rovira, 2013).

In order to gain trust as illustrated previously, the company has been continuously enhancing its innovative approaches in designing of its products for satisfying customers. The use of the designing approach by the company is aligned with the varied thoughts nurtured by Machiavelli for enhancing trust among the followers. Machiavelli in his work “Prince” has illustrated two philosophies about the political leadership, which were Virtue and Fortuna. Virtue as detailed by Machiavelli reflects the own abilities of a leader and Fortuna means good fortune. Foot Locker Inc. has been managing its business abilities to sustain within the complex footwear industry and regain its position as one of the world’s foremost footwear companies (Foot Locker Inc, 2016).

With reference to Machiavelli’s idea as presented in “The Prince”, one who follows his own principles will always succeed. Similar view is also evident in Foot Locker’s case, as the company has been successfully managing its leadership position and controlling the different operations and adapting with the changes within the business environment. Machiavelli in Prince refers that: “…why prosperity is ephemeral; because if a man behaves with patience and circumspection and the time and circumstances are such that this method is called for, he will prosper” (Donskis, 2011, pp, 12). It has been apparently comprehended that there have been certain strategic measures undertaken by the company. The company ensures sustainable domain in undertaking policy changes to assure that it is able to prosper even under complex business environments.

Foot Locker Inc in Question Eschew the Ideas of Machiavelli

According to Garr (2015), Machiavellianism is defined as “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or general conduct” (pp. 264). The different views exemplifying Machiavellianism focus on the deceitful interpersonal method which is following a practical and an egotistic ethical framework. The author’s views about leaders are reflecting the dishonest practices, which do not match with the practices of Foot Locker Inc. The company invariably focuses on strategically developing its leadership practices and enhancing its customer satisfaction towards the products it is offering. Machiavelli believed that the prince is narcissistic who always gives self-importance rather than importance to his public views, which is opposite to the different beliefs currently guiding the operations undertaken by Foot Locker Inc. (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). In Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, one of the main themes has been identified to be reflecting the character of a deceitful leader. Machiavelli has detailed the different aspects of selfish attributes of the leader on his subjects, which has been clearly illustrated through the book, “The Prince”. Machiavelli does not care about morality and ethics that are the guiding principles for ensuring sustainable business development (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Machiavelli depicted the practice of lying to public, which is identified to be one of the most prominent practices of a leader. “…a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honor his word when it places him at a disadvantage and when the reasons for which he made his promise no longer exist” (Richter & Burke, 2007; p. 108). Correspondingly, the policy of using the different deceitful attributes is often based on the necessities of developing a leadership paradigm. However, the author’s views reflect the political leader who lies as a monster or necessarily at odds with the interests of the people (Geis & Moon, 1981).

Unlike Machiavelli’s notion, Foot Locker did not lie to its customers and always maintained a level of trust in terms of the quality of the goods offered. Vision of Foot Locker is, “to be leading global retailer of athletically inspired shoes and apparel” (Foot Locker, Inc., 2010). The core value of the company is to maintain integrity of service that helps in enhancing its commitment to the deliverables provided to consumers. The company’s focus is to build customer satisfaction by being honest while providing services (Foot Locker Inc, 2016).

Adherence to or Avoidance of Machiavelli’s Ideas

The way in which Foot Locker adheres to Machiavelli’s idea presented in The Prince is associated with being a strong and a powerful leader. According to Davison (2011), “success awaits the man whose actions are in accordance with the times and failure the man whose actions are out of harmony with them” (p. 96). Foot Locker was able to taste success by working hard and abiding by ethical considerations for developing its strong leadership position. The company, by satisfying its customers, has been maintaining its position and ensuring quality services in the domain of its business (Foot Locker Inc, 2016). With reference providing an evidence of the company’s success owing to its approach of being a strong leader, it can be ascertained that for the year 2015-2016, it achieved USD10 billion as sales, which amounted to sales of USD600 per Gross Square Foot. Besides, net income of the company was 8.5% for the period of 2015-16. Inventory turnover was estimated to be more than 3 times during the same period. Moreover, it registered 17% return on capital invested (Foot Locker Inc, 2016).

Foot Locker can be determined to have avoided one of the themes presented in the book “The Prince” which was lying to public for having advantage for itself. For Foot Locker Inc, the company is undertaking honest practices that have supported it to maintain a prominent position in the retail business sector. The company being honest has been successful in retaining a large customer base. It has followed its core values of providing quality services to the consumers by remaining focused to the company’s ’code of business conduct’ that has been supporting its deliverance of best possible service to its customers. Accordingly, the focus on ethical practices such as maintaining integrity and uploading the aspect of team work have been beneficial for the company as it has been successful in ensuring customer engagement in its key business areas. These areas include kids’, apparel, digital, women’s along with European expansion (Foot Locker Inc, 2016; Foot Locker Inc, 2016). In another avenue of its honest business approach, the company granted USD20,000 worth of scholarships for the year 2015-16 to the deserving college students to facilitate them to prosper in their academic life (Foot Locker, 2016). This kind of approach has certainly increased the popularity and respect for the company amid its users which in has been the one of the key factors behind its remarkable growth in terms of sales and net income.

• Counterarguments

The key underlying philosophies of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” have been detailed in the following section. The primary philosophy can be ascertained to be regarding the aspect of leadership in which he said in “The Prince” that a leader must be able to make important decisions for his public. Machiavelli believed that the public should be afraid of the king. The king is the only governing entity associated with providing governance and steadiness to his public. Contradictorily, Foot Locker believed in its core value of providing the best possible services to its customers. Unlike Machiavelli’s notions, Foot Locker followed the core values of the company in building and maintaining long-term relationship with customers (Foot Locker Inc, 2016).

With reference another philosophy, Machiavelli also believed in the facet of immorality. He believed that a successful leader should learn the act of immorality and dishonesty to meet with his self-importance. Even in the present day purview, Machiavelli’s philosophy of immorality has been attracting a lot of attention from varied aspects of life. However, in case of Foot Locker, the company believes in providing the customers with right information and being honest with them in terms of maintaining goodwill of the company. It follows a philosophy of building a good ethical environment for attaining the predetermined business goals. Machiavelli believed that The Prince should be dishonest and must take up unfair means for developing its prominent position among his followers. These principles are not followed by the company as it intends to develop its business prominence based on ethical business practices and develop long-standing consumer relationship (Foot Locker Inc, 2016).

Machiavelli’s philosophy of appearance of virtue is another important view that the author has detailed. He believed that appearing to be virtuous is more important. Virtue and Fortuna are the major philosophies presented by Machiavelli in “The Prince”. Machiavelli never had a focus on the moral virtue. The best example can itself be seen in the different aspects that are presented in “The Prince”. According to Machiavelli (2010) “always kept to a life of crime at every rank of his career”, but the crimes that Agathocles (The Prince) committed were escorted by “virtue of spirit and body” (pp. 34). This infers that the leader must be able to depict his virtues at every point of life. Machiavelli’s meaning of virtue refers to something different from the common beliefs of the meaning of virtue. In “The Prince”, virtue signifies the qualities of a prince, which are important for maintaining a position to achieve other prospects within the society. On the other hand, a different belief is that the prince should have the highest virtue to be capable of behaving evil as the situation changes. The virtue in The Prince refers to the hunger for power, which is identified to be more important than all other social aspects that are prevalent within the society (Machiavelli, 2010). Fortuna has been referred as the origin of the violence that is evident to be increasing the control on the society. In the case of Foot Locker, virtue signifies the good qualities of the company, through which it has been able to maintain customer loyalty and trust for a long-term period. Foot Locker has been able to maintain its position owing to its positive approach towards the different principles and enhanced practices of diverse skills that have increased its acceptance among the consumers. The company has been solely performing on its belief that customer satisfaction is the foremost priority for attaining their preferences. It believes in providing customers with quality products that will help the company to maintain its position, which will ultimately result in developing the fortune earned by it by a considerable extent. Thus, it is evident that Foot Locker does not entirely abide by the ideas of Virtue and Fortuna as presented by Machiavelli.

• Conclusion

Machiavelli has often been remembered for his desire for power and has at times been compared to Satan due to his lust for power. Machiavelli’s in his book The Prince has explained his philosophies that a prince should have. The book has been one of the greatest contributions in field of social science, which has helped in modifying the beliefs, and social constraints associated with the leadership abilities. The book includes Machiavelli’s views on politics and affects the social development in the form of managing the political views and leadership aspects. Machiavelli believed that the prince must be a powerful leader, which is applicable for Foot Locker Inc as well as it has been one of the most successful athletic sportswear retailers in the world. The company just like the prince as stated by Machiavelli has developed leadership attributes and has considerable craze for power to develop its market prominence. Machiavelli also believed that a prince should be deceitful and a liar to have advantage over the others. One of the core values of Foot Locker Inc is honesty. The company believes in providing right information to its customers and avoiding false information to maintain the goodwill of the company by following the code of business conducts. Machiavelli also believed that a leader should be feared which also applies in the case of Foot Locker Inc as the company has achieved success and reverence among its competitors. Foot Locker Inc has been better than a number of its other companies, which reflects that the company is craving for a prominent position within the business environment. However, Machiavelli’s notion detailing the unfair means undertaken by the prince for developing his position is identified to be an area that is not practiced by Foot Locker Inc.

• References
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• Donskis, L. (2011). Niccolò Machiavelli: History, power, and virtue. Netherlands: Rodopi.
• Foot Locker, Inc. (2010). Foot Locker, Inc. announces updated strategic growth initiatives and elevated long-term financial objectives. Retrieved from http://www.footlocker-inc.com/investors.cfm?page=20150316_footlocker_announces_strategic_plan

Foot Locker Inc. (2013). 2013 annual report. Retrieved from http://www.footlocker-inc.com/pdf/2014/pr_2014_fl_2013_Annual_Report_Including_10-K-Final.pdf

Foot Locker Inc. (2016). Code of business conduct. Retrieved from http://www.footlocker-inc.com/ns/pdfs/2016/COBC-2016-final.pdf

Foot Locker Inc. (2016). Our vision. Retrieved form http://www.footlocker-inc.com/company.cfm?page=core-values

Foot Locker. (2016). The 2015-2016 winners have been announced! Retrieved from https://footlockerscholarathletes.com/

Galie, P. J. & Bopst, C. (2006). Machiavelli & modern business: Realist thought in contemporary corporate leadership manuals. Journal of Business Ethics, 65 (3), 235-250.

Geis, F. L. & Moon, T. H. (1981). Machiavellianism and deception. Retrieved from http://teamvdf.free.fr/TER%20M1/Machiavellianism%20and%20deception.pdf

Gilbert, A. (1989). Machiavelli: The chief works and others, volume 1. USA: Duke University Press

Garr, J.D. (2015). Christian Fruit--Jewish Root: Theology of Hebraic Restoration. Atlanta: Golden Key Press.

JSTOR. (2016). Machiavelli & modern business: Realist thought in contemporary corporate leadership manuals. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25123786?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Machiavelli, N. (2010). The prince: Second edition. US: University of Chicago Press.

Paulhus, D. L. & Williams, K. M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality. 36, 556-563.

Richter, W. L., & Burke, F. (2007). Combating corruption, encouraging ethics: A practical guide to management ethics. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Rovira, R. C. (2013). Machiavellian management ethics: 500 years of “The Prince”. Retrieved from http://blog.iese.edu/ethics/2013/12/11/machiavellian-management-ethics-500-years-of-the-prince/