How Can Ethical Principles Help to Increase Operational Efficiency of a Company - Case Study Example

How can ethical principles help to increase operational efficiency of a company? Introduction This research study will focus on the importance of ethics in business. The context of the essay will state and elaborate certain ethical theories of the contemporary world and evaluate the validity of such theorises with the help of a real life case study. Ethics is defined as the moral judgement of an individual, about the wrong or right outcome of a particular aspect (Atikian, 2013). The employees and managers of a company must be ethically responsible because ethical behaviour generates certain benefits to a business. An ethical organization accomplishes all activities and dealings of business in a fair manner. Such concerns help to increase the utility of its stakeholders. Consumers of the modern era desire to purchase the products and service of ethically responsible organizations (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2006). Thus ethical organizations steadily increase profitability and revenue of companies. The labour turnover and workforce productivity level of such companies are high. Ethical companies trust their employees with complete respect and honesty. Furthermore, the job attrition rate of ethically responsible companies is considerably low. Global investors desire to fund the long term commercial projects of such corporations (Atikian, 2013). The companies of the contemporary era experience threats of extensive market rivalry. By being ethical, companies can considerably enhance their brand value in the market and hence win over marketplace rivalry in the long run (Hurst, 2004). The amount of ethical principles practiced by a company can be evaluated on the basis of its organizational environment and culture. In the current era, the organizational environment changes in a dynamic and stable manner (Kroenke, 2012). The culture of an organization represents its behaviours and values that help to shape up its social environment. The organizational culture elaborates its internal workplace philosophies, expectations and experiences. If the cultural of a company encourages equity and equality within all its business dealings, then it is claimed to be ethical in nature (Kroenke, 2012). The stakeholders possess adequate trust over such companies. Ethics helps to augment the goodwill of an organization. Goodwill is a type of intangible asset of an organization and helps to improve its brand value and stakeholders trust (Aaker and Keller, 1990). Thus trust, ethics and organizational cultural are three interrelated aspects in the current business world. In order to empirically portray the relationship between trust, ethics and organizational culture, the researcher will consider the horsemeat scandal of Tesco. The scandal questioned the ethical accountability of the giant retailing organization. The context of the essay will first qualitatively elaborate the case study. The case analysis will be linked up with three theoretical propositions, regarding organizational ethics, culture and trust. The analysis will prove that achievement of commercial profit involves a certain degree of risk, business relies on a specific amount of trust to operate effectively and absence of control can lead to illegal business decisions. Case Study Company Profile Tesco Plc is an international general merchandizing and grocery retailing company. It is a public limited organization and was founded in 1919 (Tesco PLC, 2014). The present headquarters of the company is located in Chestnut, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It is considered to be the second largest retailing company in the world, both in terms of profit and revenue generation (Tesco PLC, 2014). The company conducts its business in almost all the major economies of the world and sells a wide variety of products in the market. Tesco enjoys high brand value in the market and recruits a large strength of employees around the world (Tesco PLC, 2014). Tesco Organizational Culture Tesco maintains friendly organizational culture in all its organizational branches. The company encourages participatory work atmosphere and provides high empowerment to all its employees (Tesco PLC, 2014). Since Tesco is a multinational company, it experiences a decentralized organizational structure. The important business decisions of the company are materialized through a decentralized approach. It has a flexible work environment and ensures that all its workers are satisfied in their respective workplaces. The beliefs and shared values of the company are ethically bounded (Tesco PLC, 2014). Tesco’s Horsemeat Scandal Tesco’s sales and gross profitability significantly declined after the occurrence of the horsemeat scandal. Research reports shows that after the horsemeat scandal, Tesco’s brand value in nine major markets had considerably declined. DNA of horse was found in the beef burgers sold by Tesco in the U.K. and Ireland (Quinn, 2013). This offensive outcome was found by the Food Safety Authority (FSA) of Ireland. Beef burgers were produced in the Dalepak Hambleton and Liffey Meats plants of Ireland. FSAI had found very low traces of horse DNA in the burgers produced from these plants and ultimately sold by four major supermarket companies, namely Tesco, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi (Quinn, 2013). The beef burgers sold by Tesco Evergy Value, contained almost 29% horsemeat properties. Furthermore, along with horsemeat DNA, the burgers sold by the company also contained pig DNA compositions (Quinn, 2013). After the claims of FSAI, these retailing organizations decided to remove the concerned batches from sales. In order to make things normal, the chief executive officer of FSAI, Alan Reilly, claimed that burgers containing horse or pig DNA do not possess any food safety risks (Quinn, 2013). However, Alan claimed that consumers can return such implicated products to the retailers, if they considered such items to be unhealthy. The authorities claimed that pig DNA was found in some beef burgers because meat procured from different animals are often processed in same meat plants. However the FSAI authorities could not provide any explanation regarding the presence of horse DNA in the burgers sold by Tesco (Carsil, 2013). Tesco’s Reaction After facing the horsemeat scandal, Tesco promptly withdrew all its horse DNA contained burgers from the market. The company contacted all its U.K. and Irish suppliers and scrutinized the quality of products offered by them (Carsil, 2013). The organization claimed that product safety and quality are fundamental aspects for their business. Furthermore, the company openly claimed that presence of horsemeat or DNA was a serious fault on behalf of the concern. Tesco ensured its stakeholders that it would look into the matter and resolve all the safety related problems in its food products (Quinn, 2013). Horsemeat Scandal Outcome to Environment Horses are treated with certain anti-inflammatory drug known as bute or phenylbutazone. Such drugs are debarred from the food chain of human beings. Thus utilization of horsemeat instead of beef is a type of criminal offense (Carsil, 2013). Such dealings go against the norms of hygiene and food safety. Consumption of horsemeat causes crucial blood disorder problems in human beings. Health is considered to be the most valuable asset for all individuals. Good health possesses both intrinsic and extrinsic worth within it. Consumer goods and service offering companies should ensure that their produce does not harm the health standards of the individuals (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2006). If the food products sold by an organization contain life threatening chemicals such as horsemeat, then the company adversely influences its health status of the consumers in the market. Such organizations are ethically irresponsible and portray poor organizational culture. The stakeholders’ trust over such companies is low and these firms share poor brand value in the market. Consequence The horsemeat scandal has significantly declined the frozen food sales of Tesco. In May 2013, the company experienced almost 1% fall in its sales in the U.K. In order to combat the loss in its business, Tesco decided to reduce the sales of its electronic products and increased the transactions of its non food consumer products in the market. Furthermore, the company introduced new standards of food quality safeguards and claimed that its frozen food sales would surely increase in the long run with such changes. However the scandal had adversely affected the brand value of the company and questioned over its ethical concern in business. Analysis Proposition One: The achievement of profit involves a degree of risk Business and corporate level strategies of a company tries to enhance its profitability and revenue in the global forum. After the emergence of trade liberalism and globalism, the level of uncertainty in the global business environment has considerably increased. The growth related strategies are the initial approaches involved in any complex organizational strategic planning process. The positive and negative uncertainties in each country are highly influenced by the changes taking place in the other economies (Mcgraw-Hill, 2010). Contemporary companies try to implement adaptive principles in business for forecasting or estimating the future uncertainties (Abeles, 2001). Thus achievement of profit involves massive amount of risk for all the companies. Companies face different types of risks beyond the traditional market and economic drifts. These risks can be caused due to economic, political and natural factors. Profits of the companies are often adversely affected due to external economic risks. These risks occur due to the changes in market conditions. Negative economic outcomes such as trade cycle depressions, price fluctuations, income volatilities, exchange rate fluctuations, interest rate rises lowers the profitability of modern corporations. During trade cycle depressions, the aggregate employability and investments in an economy diminishes. Under such circumstances, the demand created by the individuals declines in the market because of fall in income earning opportunities and per capita disposable spending propensities. The aggregate sales and profit generated by companies under such depressed economic outcomes are low. Sudden rise in average price levels in an economy reduces the real purchasing power of the individuals. Individuals possessing lower acquiring power create inferior demand for the products offered by a company and finally reduce the profitability of companies (Kroenke, 2012). During rising interest rates in the market, the cost of investments become high and companies experience lower profitability due to high investment costs. Profits of the company can fall due to natural calamity related risks. Draughts, cyclones and earthquakes often destroys the properties and outputs of companies. Political changes such as new industrial, trading and budget building policies often go against the economic interests of organizations and hence lower their profit (Atkinson, 2010). When the government increases the corporation and excise taxes in the market, then the operational costs of the companies’ increases and hence lowers their profitability. Along with political, economic and natural risks, achievement of profit includes a certain degree of ethical risks in business. Many companies are known to grow their profits ethically but some organizations adapt unethical approaches for maximizing their economic surplus in business. Outbreak of unethical initiatives lowers the brand value and weakens the public relationships of such companies (Harris, 2010). The consumers loose trust over unethical organizations and lowers the demand for products and services offered by such companies. Such circumstance ultimately diminishes the profits of these corporations. Empirical Analysis The horsemeat scandal portrayed unethical behaviour of Tesco and significantly lowered its profitability in business. The horsemeat included burgers of the company was harmful to the environment and could cause severe degenerative diseases. Many prospective customers of Tesco lost their trust after the occurrence of the scandal. As the utility derived by the consumers declined, Tesco’s annual profit and sales strated to fall at a steady rate. After the horsemeat scandal, the sales of Tesco declined almost by 1%, from 2012 to 2013 (Peston, 2013). Furthermore, revenue of Tesco declined by 3.8% in Asia and 5.5% in the other European countries (Peston, 2013). However loss of Tesco’s revenue in the U.K. was lower than the same in its other global marketplaces. This is because; the company experiences relatively less sensitive market demand in the U.K. compared to the other marketplaces. The horsemeat scandal has considerably lowered the profitability of Tesco along with fall in the volume of its sales. In April 2013, the company faced its first drop in post tax profit since the last twenty years. Research reports show that the post tax profit of the company had declined by almost 99.7% (to £120 million) in 2013 (Peston, 2013). The operating profit margin of the company was 6.5% in 2012 and had fallen by 3.7% in 2013 (Peston, 2013). The return on equity of Tesco had fallen from 3% to 2.1% during 2012 to 2013. Figure 1: Ethical Risk declining Tescos Profitability (Source: Tesco PLC, 2014) The above figure shows that the profit share of Tesco has significantly declined in the year 2013 due to the horsemeat scandal. Tesco is a reputed and well experienced organization in the market (Tesco PLC, 2014). However the ethical issue of horsemeat scandal had wreaked the economic stability of the organization. This empirical analysis proves the first proposition of the research paper, stating that achievement of profit involves a degree of risk in the current business environment. Proposition Two: Absence of control can lead to illegal business decisions Along with economic surplus generation, companies should also implement rules to become ethically responsible in the market (Ebrahimi, 2012). However ethical employees of an organization can undertake unethical decisions when they fail to evaluate the complexity of ethical issues and the corporate governance structure of their organization is weak (Swoman, 2011). Inefficient corporate governance structures can lead to unethical decision making outcomes. Absence of control can lead to certain illegal business decisions (Rachel, 2001). A company can often face ethical issues in business if they lack the expertise to resist requests of unethical acts. The workers should be aware about the ethical guidelines and rules of their own company. If the individuals are unaware about the ethical rules of their companies then they would not be able to evaluate the acceptable and unacceptable legal standards of the organization (Hahn and Kim, 2009). If the workers are unable to judge the ethics involved in each organizational activity, then they would not be able to combat against any unethical outcome. The entrepreneurs of a company should follow ethical approaches of business. The entrepreneurs govern and develop the action of other subordinate workers (Lin, Cook and Burt, 2001). The employees often follow the actions of their organizational leaders. Thus if the entrepreneurs are not ethical, then its employees are often tempted to act unethically. Ethically irresponsible leaders are unable to communicate the core values, code of moral norms and guiding beliefs to subordinates. Under such circumstances, the existing workers of the organization will not be able to accomplish all its desired activities in a proficient manner. Lack of proper organizational control can be expensive for a company. Unethical practices are most commonly observed in corporations experiencing weak control. However, such outcomes ultimately affect the interests of the employees, shareholders and the company itself, in the long run. However the commercial affairs and market power of a private company should be appropriately scrutinized by the public regulatory authorities in the market. The government of each country should check the level of ethics involved in the business practices of giant profit making organizations (Riley, 2012). Monopolizing market power of some large companies lowers the social welfare level of economies (Riley, 2012). Monopoly is a hypothetical market outcome but some companies exercise such powers with the help of some strategic decisions in business (Riley, 2012). Figure 2: Monopoly Reducing Social Welfare (Source: Riley, 2012) The above graph shows that a monopolist (with minimal control) reduces producer as well as consumer surplus in the market. Such organizations often unethically increase the prices of its products and services in the market. Monopolists often manipulate the prices of its produce and factor services in the market (Mankiw and Hakes, 2011). Such companies often use their market power to manipulate the political rules in their own favour. However the unethical practices of the giant monopolizing companies can be reduced with the help of increased public regulations, imposed over the commercial affairs of such firms (Mankiw and Hakes, 2011). The public authorities try to enhance the level of competition in the market, for lowering the power of such big corporations. Thus lack of control lead to illegal business decisions and lowers the brand values of organizations in the market (Hill and Jones, 2009). Empirical Analysis Tesco is a giant multinational company and conducts its operations in several economies around the world. The company strictly abides the political regulations imposed by the government authorities of different countries. The grocery retailers of U.K. such as Tesco are subjected to the rules of Competition Commission of the country. The Commission checks the extent of fair trading practices of such organizations (Goodness, 2012). Furthermore, the entrepreneurial leaders of Tesco strictly follow the standardized code of ethics in business. However, the horsemeat has questioned the ethical awareness of Tesco. Aggregately Tesco faced a loss of almost £300 million, for its horsemeat scandal. The company faced the scandal due to the errors of European processed meat’s suppliers. The officials of Tesco failed to rectify the errors conducted by its suppliers. Thus horsemeat scandal was a result of Tesco’s weak and unethical supply chain function. Proposition Three: Business relies on a specific amount of trust to operate effectively The singular aspect of trust facilitates in the accomplishment of different types of interpersonal relationships. Trust is an important factor on the basis of which individuals react with each other. In the modern era, the extent of business crisis has considerably increased with rising degree of uncertainties across each industrial segment. Research reports have proved that the significance of trust increases with rise in the level of market volatilities (Kim and Jones, 2009). Thus, trust is considered to be the primal strategic asset of an organization. The brand recognition and value of a company significantly depends on the amount of their stakeholders’ trust. If the consumers, media support groups, government authorities and shareholders hold confidence about the initiatives undertaken by a company, then it shares a high brand value in the market. A company can successfully introduce operational and marketing changes, if its stakeholders possess adequate trust over its business. Trust is a crucial requisite in all professional commitments (Kim and Jones, 2009). Through the value and meaning of trust is changing over time, its intrinsic outcome remains the same. The efficiency and productivity level of the workers in a concern is considerably dependent on the level of cooperation among them. Voluntary cooperation among the employees and managers of an organization can exist with the essence of trust in workplaces. Trust is an imperative factor required for organizational success (Amit and Zott, 2001). Furthermore, the professional attitude of the employees within an organization is highly influenced by the level of trust existing between them. The risk related problems of a company can be eradicated with the help of adequate trust. Developing professional associations and achieving rapid commercial improvement require trust within an organization. Furthermore strategic collaboration and cooperation between the companies can be successfully achieved with the help of trust. If two companies distrust each other, then their strategic business alliance becomes unsuccessful in the long run. Figure 3: Characteristics of Trust (Source: Romano, 2003) The above chart shows the basic characteristics of trust in business. Trust can be defined in terms of three major dimensions, namely referents of trust, dimensions of trust and components of trust (Romano, 2003). According to the referents concept, trust is attitudinal, functional, versatile and social in nature (Kim and Jones, 2009). The level of organizational trust depends on the attitude and versatility of the workers. However it represents the social culture of an organization and functionally elaborates the behavioural trends of the professionals within a concern. According to components concept, trust is motivational, consequential and hypothetical (Kapferer, 2012). Trust is hypothetical because it helps to increase organizations’ control in the market, through some assumptions. The term is consequential because it is approximated through emotional assessment of control. It also possesses certain influential characteristics because the trustor always tries to increase the influence of trust within an organization. Trust is dimensional because it is conditional, incremental and symmetric (Peterson, 1998). The influence of trust in an organization can be evaluated in term of a favourable or unfavourable outcome. It is incremental because the trust of an organization increases over time. Thus the above review proves that trust is an indispensible intangible asset of an organization. In order to operate in an effective manner, companies need to ensure that its stakeholders possess adequate amount of faith over its services and operations (Calderon, Cervera and Molla, 2000). Empirical Analysis Tesco is a publicly listed organization and has a strong market reputation since 1919. Over time, the company has successfully expanded the scale of its internationalization and widened the variety of its product offerings in the market. Since inception, Tesco has maintained sufficient short and long run solvency ratios and ensures adequate growth and profitability returns in business. However the organization could not attain desirable amount of commercial success without the essence of its stakeholders trust. The employees of Tesco are highly productive and motivated at work because the internal workplace volatility of the company is low and it provides adequate amount of financial as well as non financial benefits to its workforce. The consumers’ demand experienced by the company is inelastic because the company offers good quality products at relatively economic prices in the market (Abideen and Saleem, 2011). The shareholders are moderately certain about their divided earnings from Tesco (Dewett, Whittier and Williams, 2007). Thus the giant retailer could successfully expand its trade in the global forum with the help of adequate trust of its stakeholders. However the horsemeat scandal has adversely affected the trust of Tesco’s market stakeholders. The consumers have found that the frozen products sold by the company are harmful for to health. Many employees are de-motivated to provide their services in the company, after its financial indicators and brand value have declined due to the horsemeat scandal. Even so, investors have become less confident regarding Tesco, after its earnings per share and shareholders’ investment returns have declined due to the horsemeat scandal (Tesco PLC, 2013). Figure 4: Decline in Shareholders Income (Source: Tesco PLC, 2014) The above cross sectional bar graph shows that in 2013, the return on shareholders’ fund was lowest in Tesco. This proves that unethical practices of an organization diminish trust of its stakeholders and ultimately lowers its operational efficiency in the market (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2013). Thus the empirical analysis proves the third proposition, stating that business relies on a specific amount of trust, to operate effectively. Conclusion Modern companies experiencing strict threats of competition can considerably enhance their brand value in the market with the help of ethical business practices. Ethics evaluates the extent up to which the activities of a company are morally correct. Ethical responsibility of an organization is highly influenced by its internal organizational culture. The senior officials of a company should follow strict moral principles in all their activities. Ethical business leaders lower the stimulation of unethical acts in workplaces. The organizations should follow their own established ethical code of conduct. Ethically aware companies are able to successfully win over the trust of its stakeholders (Werther and Chandler, 2005). The context of the essay has proved three propositions that are highly valuable in the contemporary business world. The first proposition states that achievement of profit involves a degree of risk. Companies are exposed to diversified types of risks in the current uncertain business environment (Wood, 2014). Apart from the traditional political, natural and economic risks, businesses are often subjected to ethical issues in the market. The researcher had empirically proved that the long established brand value and financial prosperity of Tesco had significantly declined after the occurrence of the horsemeat scandal. The scandal has questioned the extent of ethics followed by the company. The essay analysis has also proved that absence of control can lead to illegal business decisions. The public authorities of a country should check and lower the illegal business practices conducted by the giant monopolizing firms in the market. Even so, the internal higher officials of a company should be aware about its basic moral guidelines. In the long run, an organization can be ethically accountable with the help of such strict control (Madsen, Neergaard and Ulhøi, 2008). The researcher had shown that Tesco faced the problems of horsemeat scandal due to its weak European meat supply chain network. The organization failed to assure the authenticity of its supplied raw materials and ultimately faced the trauma of the horsemeat scandal. The researcher has empirically confirmed the third proposition of the essay stating that business relies on a specific amount of trust to operate effectively. Trust is a crucial component of all professional dealings and helps to enhance the utility thresholds of all organizational stakeholders (Kim and Jones, 2009). However trust of the stakeholders over a company diminishes during situations of unethical organizational practices. The utility level of Tesco’s prospective stakeholders declined due to its horsemeat scandal. The impact of this mistrust had adversely affected the brand value and operational efficiency of the company. Thus from the entire research, it would be correct to conclude that modern companies should be ethically responsible. Appropriate ethics can be followed by the companies through adequate organizational control. Fair organizations experiences adequate trust of its stakeholders experiences operational efficiency in the long run. Reference List Aaker, D. and Keller, K., 1990. Consumer evaluations of brand extensions. Journal of brand insurance. Business Horizons, 48, pp. 317-324. Abeles, T. P., 2001. 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