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Importance of ethics in business and ethical decision making
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Strategy is the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal (Strategy, 2010). Pearce & Robinson (2009) contend a strategy is the direction and scope of a company over the long-term as it attempts the competitive advantage in an effort to achieve the company’s overall objectives. In an effort to remain viable and as a leader in the organic food industry, Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is exploring the possibility of expanding to other geographical areas and is seeking a growth strategy in order for the organization to sustain its success. This paper identifies and evaluates growth strategies alternatives for KFF and recommends the most suitable alternative that would promote growth and sustainability.
Growth Strategies
Alternative 1 – Corporate Social Responsibility
Mallen Baker says that corporate social responsibility is about how companies manage business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society (mallenbaker.net, 2010). Whole Foods, a natural foods supermarket, is selective about the product it sells and is committed to being socially responsible. With the reputation of being one of America’s 100 Best Corporate Citizen by Business Ethics, Whole Foods continues to experience success by offering the highest quality of organic and natural products (Scheer, 2003). KFF’s mission is to provide the finest in selected food stuffs, wines, and related needs in an unparalleled consumer environment, (KFF, 2010).
If KFF works side by side with other companies that share the same values, they will be able to implement this concept into their company from this aspect. KFF will need to be thinking about stepping into the customer’s shoes when focusing on this strategy. In the end it will build strong relations...
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...trieved from Business Source Complete database
Kudler fine foods. (2010). University of Phoenix. Retreived June 10, 2010 from
http://ecampus.phoenix.edu
Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. (2008). Business and Society. Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy (12th ed). Published by McGraw-Hill Company.
Mintzberg, H., Ghoshal, S., Lampel, J., & Quinn, J. B. (2003). The strategy process: Concepts contexts cases (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Scheer, R. (2003). Organic Profits. E - The Environmental Magazine, 14(4), 44. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.
Strategy. (2010). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved June 14, 2010 from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strategy
Kudler Fine Foods is a store unlike any in the grocery industry. Kudler Fine Foods represents a store that could possibly spark a new era within the grocery world. The owner of Kudler Fine Foods, Kathy Kudler, has watched her dream of owning and operating a grocery store that specializes in fine quality food grow within a short period of time. The success of Kudler Fine Foods can be attributed to the innovative ideas, effective leadership, and organizational structure. The overall mission of Kudler Fine Food's "is to provide our customers the finest in selected foodstuffs, wines, and related needs in an unparallel consumer environment. Our selections coupled with our experienced, helpful and knowledgeable staff, merge to offer each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing" (Apollo Group, 2003). Kudler has managed to maintain its mission statement by providing its customers with the best and as a result the company has flourished. "Kathy considers one of her key responsibilities to be that of identification of new gourmet items that can be offered in her stores (Apollo Group, 2003)." Therefore, Kathy is considering plans to contract with local growers of organic produce to yet obtain the best in quality products for her consumers and take her business to the next step. If Kathy makes the decision to contract with local growers then changes could be introduced into the company's overall structural organization. Each aspect of Kudler Fine Food's organizational structure from basic business process to the supply chain and quality control process will be affected by the formation of a contractual relationship with local organic growers.
6. "Organic Farming." US Environmental Protection Agency. 29 July 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. .
Social responsibility can be defined as “the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Mallen Baker, 2004). In addition, social responsibility has been defined differently by various corporate leaders that provide guidelines which impacts how one manages the core business. Social responsibility is an essential part of a business. If managed correctly should strengthen the competitive spirit of the company and provide prosperity to society.
Thompson, Arthur A. "Panera Bread Company in 2012 Pursuing Growth in a Weak Economy." Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland. Crafting & Executing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2014. C-96-C-113.
While the organic movement has increased the production and sale of organic food in the United States, something that should be noted is that the stock of Whole Foods Market, a grocery store is dedicated to the sale of organic food, has gone down 40% since October of 2013. Whole Foods Market’s success rates are slowly beginning to diminish and it may lose its dominance in the organic foods market (The Economist, 2014). While this may seem indicative of a decrease in public interest of organic food, it really indicates the opposite. After seeing the success of Whole Foods Market, new stores such as Trader Joe’s and Sprouts entered the organic market and became strong competition. The decline in Whole Foods Market’s success may be attributed
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way a corporation achieves a balance between its economic, social, and environmental responsibilities in its operations so as to address shareholder and other stakeholder expectations. In general, when firms hold this wider encouraging role on the public by being engaged with stakeholders, a variety of profit can be produced for both company and the stakeholders. A key inclination is the combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the organization strategy, culture, mission and communications. By incorporating corporate citizenship into the company it is no longer an additional “nice thing to do” or something made to obey laws or regulations. Instead, corporate responsibility has become something business leaders and workforce want to engage in, frequently because executives who believe in the long-term see business profit. The four types of social responsibilities a...
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is about how companies manage their business processes to produce a positive impact on society. Companies introduce new products in markets, usually after testing concludes that the product is safe for use or consumption. It is nearly impossible for a company to truly know all of the potential risks a brand new product may have, even after thorough testing. However, once a company receives reports that its product may be causing harm to consumers, it is their responsibility to conduct more research and tests to rule-out any possible truth in the reports. This is what a socially responsible company would do, one who is preoccupied not only with their bottom-line, but one that is also worried about its customers.
Numerous definitions of strategy exist, in most circumstances strategy can loosely be explained as an overall plan of deployment of resources to ascertain a favourable position within a market (Zablah, Bellenger and Johnston 2004; Grant 1994, p 14). Further, imbedded in many successful organisations are strategies, the importance of which is to remain relevant in the market, and successful in the various attributes of business; profiteering, employee motivation, maintaining sustainable core competencies, effectiveness in operation, or efficiency in the conduction of operations. Therefore challenges involved in the formulation and implementation of a strategy can revolve around the overall external market, as well as internal
The corporate social responsibility is a commitment by a business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life for employees and their families’ as-well as contributing to the society. Walmart is a well-known company that offers customers the items they want and need at a low cost, with nearly 4,000 stores in the United States. According to the Fortune 500, Walmart was ranked number 1 in 2015. Just like any other superstore Walmart needs to continue the use of social responsibility by recreating a relationship between business and the community especially if they want to dominate the competition in 2016. The use of sustainability, strategic philanthropy, causing market, shared values, stakeholders and global perspective will help readers understand the purpose of social responsibilities in the corporate world.
So, for the future, she must implement his strategies to continue and improve his efficacy and efficiency. To propose achievable strategies, we will use Ansoff matrix. This tool allows to classify and explain the different growth strategies for a company. Ansoff 's Matrix is also known as the market options matrix (Lynch, 2009, p.313) and is designed to identify “the product and market options available to the organization, including the possibility of withdrawal and movement into unrelated markets”. It is represented diagrammatically as follows.
Perry, Luddene, and Schultz, Dan. A Field Guide to Buying Organic. New York: Bantam Books, 2005.
Social responsibility is the part of the framework of an organization or individual which makes up an obligation to act for the benefit of society. There are many different ways act out social responsibility. The social responsibilities of a business can be classified according to the businesses relationships to the general public, customers, employees and investors. The companies that make their product or service with the rooted mindset of benefiting the community and the world around them do this by providing things like scholarship funds, all natural products, biodegradable storage, and or just by treating the consumer as well as the employees as individuals rather than a corporate dollar sign. Businesses may exercise
Corporate Social Responsibility is management’s obligation to protect and promote their stakeholders welfare. Social Responsibility is more than just obvious ethical issues like honesty and integrity in business dealings.
However, there can be more definitions about what Corporate Social Responsibility can be. For example, Corporate Social Responsibility can be the commitment which is continuing for a business to behave ethically and bring to economy the development to improve the workforces’ of the whole society and local community and their families’ quality of life. Corporate Social Responsibility is also known as the obligation of a company to serve the society’s interest and of course its own. With the help of the Corporate and Social Responsibility, social and environmental concerns companies can integrate into their business and stakeholders operations.
Both of these areas are the lifeblood of the company, and any benefit to them should not be overlooked. Before a company can become proficient at corporate social responsibility, they must first know its definition. Corporate social responsibility is defined as actions that can be taken by a company to ensure they are adhering to ethical and social responsibilities of the day. These corporate social actions are self-regulatory, as a company strives to adhere to guidelines while also going above and beyond being a Good Samaritan in the business world (ECA, 2015). This can place certain businesses at the forefront in customers mind because of the example they are setting in the marketplace. A company going above and beyond the call of duty to work towards a more philanthropic approach in the surrounding community is a perfect example for corporate social responsibility. Going deeper into the definition, corporate social responsibility acts like a “double bottom line” for a company, as they strive to achieve financial goals, but also achieve their social mission out in the community. Once a company is aware of what the concept of corporate social responsibility is, they can now implement it and start to reap the many benefits of its