BUSINESS ETHICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

BUSINESS ETHICS - Essay Example First, it is necessary to define the issues and explain why they are ethically controversial. Second, one is to identify the stakeholders and explain whose interests are at stake and what kind of interests those are. Third, one is to clarify the ethical values and see what relevant values are in the organization’s Code of Ethics and what moral standards and principles are relevant. To resolve the issue we should understand how organizational values and moral standards can be applied and what impact the resolution may have on the stakeholders. However, it is not enough simply to offer resolutions; they must be made a reality. Implementation of resolutions requires a certain plan of actions, monitoring of the outcomes and assessment of success. Tesco is Britain’s largest retailer occupying 30 percent of the market share. It is followed by Sainsbury’s and Asda Wal-Mart. All the three corporations have similar ethical problems associated with their monopolistic position in the market and low-cost marketing strategy. Tesco is also well-known for its diversification strategy. Their corporate strategy is â€Å"an inclusive offer†, which refers to the company’s ambition to appeal to customers with upper, medium and low income in the same stores. As David McCarthy, Citigroup retail analyst put it, â€Å"Theyve pulled off a trick that Im not aware of any other retailer achieving. That is to appeal to all segments of the market† (Liptrot 2005). This diversity is expressed even in Tesco’s own brand products, verifying from the up-market â€Å"Finest† to a low-price â€Å"Value†. The diversification is used in the firm’s six UK store formats, differentiated by size and ra nge products on sale. Initially specializing in food, the company entered such areas of businesses as clothes and consumer electronics, selling and renting DVDs, CDs and music downloads, as well as Internet service Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 17 Business Ethics - Essay Example The fact that the decisions of Nardelli have secured the firm’s success is not enough for justifying potential violations of ethics by Nardelli, if such case is proved to exist. Nardelli was appointed as the leader of Home Depot in 2007 (Kavilanz 2007). Nardelli introduced an important change in Home Depot: he supported discipline in regard to all aspects of the business (Kavilanz 2007). Many employees were opposed to this practice as they preferred the leadership style of the firm’s previous leader: Bernie Marcus (Kavilanz 2007). Marcus was quite friendly with employees, a fact that allowed him to establish strong links with staff in all business department; however, as the company was expanded the above practice of Marcus would have to be changed (Kavilanz 2007). The appointment of Nardelli as the firm’s leader was related to a new era for the firm: discipline was set as a priority in regard to all parts of the business (Kavilanz 2007). Nardelli kept a distance from staff at least when having to deal with employees at group level (Kavilanz 2007). Gradually, employees who preferred the leadership style of Marcus left the company, a fact that had not affected the growth of the business (Kavilanz 2007). Still, the leadership style of Nardelli, being characterized by ‘no flexibility and autonomous management’ (Kavilanz 2007) had to be changed in order for the firm’s performance to be kept at high levels, especially since the housing market had started to show signs of slowdown from 2007 onwards (Kavilanz 2007). Under such terms, the autocratic leadership style of Nardelli, being based mostly on ‘command and control’ (Nussbaum 2007) would have to be replaced by a more flexible, democratic leadership style; such leadership style would allow employees to express their creativity and enthusiasm, a fact that would lead to the improvement of employees-customers relationship (Nussbaum 2007). In order to evaluate the leadership style of Nardelli it