Sociology

When greed inspires the entrepreneur, his efforts are directed to one concern the maximum possible profits, from the minimum possible input. In such cases, businesses are driven by greed and characterized by total disregard of other peoples welfare. Business decisions are based on and defined by their profitability. Consequently, interest parties like consumers, suppliers, employees and the local community are exploited in favor of profits for the entrepreneur. And this is what characterizes Kudler Fine Foods.

I wonder who goes to Kudlers. If you do, then you are guilty of immoral indulgence, social irresponsibility and abetting greed. No business can exclude itself from the community in which it operates and claim to serve society. Personally, I value integrity, moral values, responsibility and equality to all. Businesses should be founded upon and operate on principles that promote good business practices, accountability and fairness. Moral values should be upheld in all activities, and societal norms be respected in all practices. The business should recognize the responsibility of the corporate sector to community and other stakeholders. Accordingly, the greed for profits that sow seeds of business malpractices and irresponsibility should be discouraged. Additionally, the business employs people of varying skills, experiences and training. It then follows that a degree of fairness should be applied in hiring, promotion and remuneration of the working staff.

However, I find Kudlers lacking thoroughly in all these aspects. I realize that the proprietors approach to business management is a classical shareholder model, which puts profit above everything else (Beauchamp and Norman 2004) I find her approach kind of isolationist, informed by self interests, greed for profits and socially irresponsible. She has adopted cost cutting measures are by taking unto herself all the major decisions. Consequently, nobody can make any transaction when she is not around. Besides failing society by suppressing the creation of employment opportunities, she denies her employees the opportunity to develop their careers. This style of leadership inhibits innovation and individual initiative, since orders must come from her alone.

Reportedly, she does all other menial jobs such as catering for customers, where she receives hefty tips that are channeled into the businesss operating expenses. This is a manifestation of crude greed that has no bounds. In such occasions as needing extra manual labor, she could give back to society by hiring locals to help. It is an obligation and responsibility that corporate firms owe society. It is noted with concern that her shops are short of staff at any given time, and employees do more than they are paid for.

I have labored with reason and moral principles trying to gauge the character of Kathy Kudler. In her risk analysis- I doubt if I share her understanding of the phrase- she ranks naturally occurring calamities such as earthquakes and bad weather. Well, I concede that they are factors that could affect business. However, it is her reaction to such eventualities that stirs my better judgment. As weird as it sounds, she takes consolation in the fact that even her competitors are exposed to those disasters. Instead of exploring avenues for solutions that serve society better, she celebrates collective destruction. I find her character perverted in this regard, blinded with ill wishes for her competitors. For a healthy economy, competition is necessary to guard against consumer exploitation. In fact, her suggestion that Kudlers customers are insensitive to prices and therefore not bothered by a competitor offering cheaper services imply that she is already exploiting this opportunity. Generally, she is result oriented (maximization of profits) and very inconsiderate of her obligations to employee and customer welfare. Her allegedly excellent services are aimed at luring as many customers as possible. It is informative that most of them are repeat customers, suggesting she caters for an elite group who can afford her expensive products.

Kathy Kudler is either totally blind to social norms or utterly immoral. In her business promotion frenzy, she advertises in the Gay and Lesbian magazine. This is a greed-for-wealth informed campaign that will promote moral decadence (Kaler and Chryssides1993).

Society works in dynamic and complex ways, in which inter-party relations define human activities. No man is an island. In a human community, individual actions impact significantly upon the lives of people outside ones circle of engagement (Freeman et al 2007). For this reason, there is need to consider those to be affected by the businesss practices.

Despite the fact that she claims to sell local produce, a larger percentage of her stock is imported. Her clientele, even as reflected by her mission and vision, is composed of the high end consumers, who value exotic goods not available locally. And lastly, against a net profit running into hundreds of thousands dollars, her annual contribution to charity is a meager ten thousand. Similarly, she only gives to society perishing goods that she could not afford to keep. She thus fails in her obligation to contribute to society in a meaningful manner. In her listing of key stakeholders, she recognizes only those who benefit the business directly. She does not include employees and the local community, who by business ethics should be a priority of any business.

Nonetheless, a restructuring of management is necessary at Kudler Fine Foods. As a manager, I could start with employing more staff, at the same time ensuring fairness in remuneration in relation to ones skills and training. There is no way a butcher should earn more than a trained clerk Additionally, I would stop the rapid expansion craziness and concentrate in areas that we can operate efficiently. In any case, Kudler needs an assistant manager, preferably in purchase and sales. The one-man show by Kathy is apparently not effective. And lastly, I should really develop a phobia to competition, but offer competitive services that appeal to a wide circle of customers.