Ethical Consumerism of Northumbian Water Group - Case Study Example

Ethical Consumerism of Northumbian Water Group Executive summary Ethical consumerism is a growing over time. Ethical consumerism is used nowadays more than in the past years. From the research here, we are going to find out what is ethical consumerism and how does it affect the company? Whether the idea is good to adopt it, and how is it going to help the country and the consumer in general? This is very important to a company wishing to adopt it for its business operations. It is also important for international companies who want to trade and have a positive outcome for developing countries. It will review consumer survey on influence to customer decisions to buy products and describe different ethical consumerisms, their motives, and concerns. It will also show how different knowledge of something will have an impact on the ethical consumerism. It also suggests for more awareness campaign on the benefits of buying goods, which are ethically produced, and the need for companies to adopt this strategy in producing their products. There is also a need for international companies to know the need of adopting this strategy in the countries they have invested so that they can increase the awareness and the importance of adopting these strategies. Introduction Northumbian Water Group is an energy and utility company in the United Kingdom. It is among the companies, which practice business ethics. People will tend to buy goods that are ethically produced. This means that the goods are easily recycled, use labor that is facilitated without using child labor and processing food that is free range. Generally, ethical consumerism affects the business negatively if the company does not compile with the rules of business ethics (&CLARKE, shaw 1999). Companies that produce goods and service that go hand in hand with business ethics tend to have many customers hence increasing its profits. For business to prosper they need to produce goods that use natural ingredients, ethically sourced, produced and distributed, that uses fair labor, honoring human rights, respect the environment, renewable and they should be ready to give back to the community. Northumbian Water Group recycles is water hence utilizing the water they also treat their sewerages hence making it less harmful compared to the one not treated. It also serves as a good example to the society by doing volunteer projects that are going to benefit the same society that acts as their customers (KILNURN, bray 2011). Ethical consumerism Ethical Consumerism is bought goods that are ethically produced and sold. Some business owners are using it as a force for social change since companies make a decision based on the customers demand. The consumer power may be used to make the companies accountable to the society (LEGENDRE, D'astous, 2009). Since they will not produce goods that harm the society in any way. Ethical consumerism is an evolution from earlier consumerism movements. It has three waves of consumerism. The first one focuses on value for money, basic product information and labeling and consumer choice (LONDON, cooperative bank, 1992). The second one is heralded by investigations into product safety and has been associated with broader questions of corporate accountability. The third wave is a marriage of environmentalism and citizenship. Research as show that ethical consumerism is more celebrated than practiced. It has discussed more but not implemented as such. It is still new to many places, and few countries have implemented it. This is because the customers are the ones who implement, and they would rather buy a cheaper product that is unethical than buy the same product at a higher price (PAYNE, Jacquline, 2002). It’s a good strategy for a company to adopt ethical business because of the following reasons;- They build customer loyalty, which is very important for the growth of the business. If the customers have confidence in your products, they will buy it and hence increase the profits and reduce the cost of the advertisement. Retain good employees – No business wants to experience high labor turnover sand by adopting ethical strategy they will be able to maintain they employees since they provide the best conditions for them, and they ae not within a position to have a reason to leave the job (RUST, ronald & anthony , zahonk, 1993). Avoid legal problems- When a company does its work in a good manner, they will not have any legal problems. Following the law is every business wishes no one were to be catch by law. Positive work environment- Employers will be at ease if their employees are loyal to them and work as required. No employer wants to have trouble with his or her employees every time. Northumbrian Water Group Company uses this approaches to ensure that it practice ethics;- a) Charitable organizations – This Company has been committed to helping the less fortunate in the society. By doing so, it makes the society feel they are part of the company hence they have a good public image. This will help the company to have more profits (WRIGHT, carrigan 2004). b) Community service projects- It has been doing volunteer projects whereby its 55% of the employees have been able to participate. This is long term projects, not one-time projects making the public remember their work every time the projects continues to serve the community. c) Being environmental friendly- The Company as gone further to recycle their water and make it less harmful to the environment. This as helps them have more customers since they feel it’s not about making money but doing what is right for all society (RUST, ronald & anthony zahonk, 1993). d) Fair salaries to their employees- They are able to pay their employee fair salaries. It is not just salaries but they also the employees working conditions which are conducive to their employees. Company review Northumbrian Water Group Company was the only water company in the world to be honored with the ethical water company for the fourth time. 55% of the company’s employees participated in the volunteer program. They actively volunteered in their communities spending more than 16000 hours helping charitable, community educational or environmental projects. Northumbrian Water Group Company is leading the way in the water industry and was found in a strong believe to serve the communities. It believes that customer, employees, and investors should be treated in an ethical manner (KILNURN, bray john, 2011). Northumbrian Water Group Company contains the following divisions;- Northumbrian Water limited which provides water and sewerage services in the north east of England and water services in the southeast under brand name Essex & Suffolk water. The research shows that the company complies with the environmental pollution. It is among the water companies, which have very little water pollution it also meet the bathing water compliance; its water is safe to be used for bathing. Sewerage serviceability is good they do frequent servicing of their sewages (CLARKE, shaw, 1999). This water company helps conserve the environment by treating the sewerage to clean water, which has no harm to the environment Opinion Survey I did an opinion survey of 10 students on what influence the consumer behavior and the results were as follows. a) Does the price of product influence your decisions to buy things? The results show that 63% of the people are influenced to buy things by the prices. While 37% say, they are not influenced by the prices. b) Does how a company treat their customers influence your buying decisions? The findings showed that 57% agreed the way a company treats their customers influence the customer behavior, and 43% did not agree with it. c) Does how a company solve their customers problem influence your decision of buying their things? The findings showed that 52% agreed that the way a company solves customers’ problems would determine the customer behavior of buying products. While 48% did not agree with it. d) Does a company motivate customer’s influence you are buying decision? The findings showed that 70% of people are influenced, by the way, a company motivates its customers. While 30% disagreed that, they influenced customers buying behavior. e) Do natural ingredients influence your buying decisions? The findings showed that 80% of the people agree that the ingredients of the product influence the customer buying behavior while 20% of disagreed about this. General from the results above it's obvious that where the company does well to their employees and their customers increases the decision of customer buying this product. Conclusion Based on the findings of all the constructs and the discussion above, the following conclusion can be made concerning factors, which influence the ethical consumerism. The price of the goods - low prices products will tend to attract more customers than slightly high prices. Research as stressed on the importance of research since some people are not aware that there might be cheaper alternative products, which could serve the same purpose. Customer motivation – study have shown that companies that motive their customers get many profits from the sale of their goods. Hence the need for companies to start motivating their customers. Ingredients of the products – Natural products have been proven to have many sales as compared to the once which are proceed using unnatural ways. Companies should try to manufacture natural products to get a lot of customers and for the wellbeing of the society. Customer treatment – The way a company treats their customer determine the sales of that particular company. Every customer wants to be treated well hence the competition among the companies to do so to win more customers. Customer problem solving- the way a company treats a customer whenever he or she raises a complaint determines a lot about that company. It shows concern for their customer and values them hence more customers will be attracted to buy their goods. There is a very important need to do more research on ethical consumerism, especially creating awareness about the ethical issues, their meaning to consumers and the way in which this translates into action. This calls for further research on the meaning of ethical consumption to customers. Research shows a large gap between the committed ethical consumers who ethical consumerism is part of their lifestyle. There is also need to do research on how consumers find out about ethical products. Whether different consumers respond to different types of information, different media and source of information do they use mostly. Recommendation I would like to recommend further research and more information to be provided on the following;- There comes the need for finding out more information on the sources where a consumer finds out their ethical information. Guideline on how the companies can be more ethical on different social conditions especially when dealing with developed countries. Support for standardization of social and environmental reporting and increasing the credibility of companies claiming to be ethical especially by the government. Government increasing incentives for the good deeds. It is important for international companies who want to trade and have a positive outcome for developing countries. There is a need for international companies to know the need of adopting this strategy in the countries they have invested so that they can increase the awareness and the importance of adopting these strategies. For business to prosper they need to produce goods that use natural ingredients, ethically sourced, produced and distributed, that uses fair labor, honoring human rights, respect the environment, renewable and they should be ready to give back to the community. The consumer power may be used to make the companies accountable to the society. Since they will not produce goods that harm the society in any way. No business wants to experience high labor turnover sand by adopting ethical strategy they will be able to maintain they employees since they provide the best conditions for them, and they ae not within a position to have a reason to leave the job. Customer, employees, and investors should be treated in an ethical manner. Employers should be at ease if their employees are loyal to them and work as required. It is obvious that where the company does well to their employees and their customers increases the decision of customer buying this product. List of References A, D'astous a & legendre. 2009. understanding consumer justifications. journal of business ethics. D, bray j john n & kilnurn. 2011. an exploratory study into factors impeding ethical consumption. journal of business ethics. 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