Maximizing Profits Through Serving Customers: A Guide to Growth - Essay Sample

Introduction

Undeniably, Profits are every businessperson's target, and people can argue that the primary goal of business is to earn profits by maximizing the shareholders' value. However, that does not mean that the company's only goal is to raise profits to make the investor happy. According to Handy (2002, p337), the driving force of a business is service to its consumers, and benefits come as a reward for progress. The bigger a company grows by serving its consumers competitively, the bigger the profits are made. Due to the rise of competitive markets and constantly changing consumer demands, businesses have been forced to shift from profit-making mindset to social responsibility mindset. A company has to consider other factors such as customers, community, employees, suppliers, and any other activity and input that affect the outcome of a venture. This easy will explore the role of business beyond making a profit and business social responsibility.

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A business has the role to give back to the society in which it operates. Business Social responsibility can be demanding and expensive, but when well-planned and achieved, a business benefits equally in terms of growth and profit-making. According to Grayson and Hodges (2017, p 114), companies should be considerate of the environments in which they operate. It is the role of business to strive towards corporate social responsibility in case the business has a goal to achieve long-term interests. According to Zhao, Frese, and Giardini (2010,p 678), the company's role is to be proactive and not active. This means a company must be willing to network and participate in a community by giving back to the society from the start of a business out of goodwill but not to make plans to give back when there are problems in the community it operate. One act of good by a company cannot be compared with that of a company that has been in service to its society long-term. The presence of a company name active in the community from the start help sell the brand and attract consumers happy of their services, which translates to constant profits and consumer brand loyalty (Zhao, Frese and Giardini, 2010,p 679). Companies, however, should not only target benefits but should strive to show responsibility towards its consumers, employees, and shareholders by giving discounts, vouchers, and compromised profit days. This can be considered as hindering the purpose of business, which is profit-making; however, this a strategy to keep shareholders attracted to brand increasing loyalty levels, and it gives the company a competitive advantage. A gesture has a long-term impact on business profit-making.

According to Bernick-Wozny and Wilks (2018. p 346), it is the social responsibility of a company to offer job opportunities. The business should not be controlling but should allow employees to celebrate the fruits of their labor. Employee's area valuable assets to any company, the better a business address the employees interest the more motivated staff become striving to meet set company target. Businesses should develop channels that are employee motivating and rewarding. Any business that seeks long-term market profitability has a corporate social responsibility to adopt policies that are fair to their employees and that are in line with the industry standards. A company should embrace set standards and policies recognizing employees' rights, freedom to collective bargaining, and freedom of association, which gives employees job security. Modern businesses have realized the value of empowering employee-based decision making and by giving employees a chance to brainstorm a solution to the company, a move that triggers employees' self-worth, in return result to innovation, and increased productivity in a business. A business needs to be culturally inclusive, and no employee should be discriminated against. Socially inclusive company has the ability to cross the border. The presence of diverse employees gives a business a range of new ideas from different regions and opportunities to grow beyond its locality, resulting in company growth. The most significant social responsibility of a business is to give its employees fair wages and provide healthy and safer working environments'. A business that takes care of its employees registers high employee motivation at work, which translates to increased productivity and high employee turnover (Berniak-Wozny and Wilks, 2018. p 348).

It is the role of business to ensure employees' interests are addressed. Motivated employees attract more customers and strive to offer high-quality services to both the company and the consumers. That kind of relationship makes the business sustainable and set targets achievable. When the employee's interests are ignored in an industry, the shareholders begin to distance themself from the company, and often the business services begin to decline, resulting in below-average market performance. Poor employee performance can be detrimental to business profit-making and the ability to serve its consumers impeccably. Besides taking care of employees and society, a business has a social responsibility to nurture and be mindful of the natural environments they operate.

Environmental conservation is paramount, and ecological preservation help saves society from issues such as global warming and climate change, which affect people. A business is expected to follow strict rules and regulations put across in any town or country the company operates. Every city and State has its set environmental conservation policies that businesses should comply with during operation. A company can contribute to the environment positively by planting trees, reduced emissions, use of renewable energies, and recycling (Schuler, Rasche, Etzion and Newton, 2017 p 221-223). For example, Coca Cola Company in year 2000 reduced the use of plastic bottles meeting United Stated environmental policies. While Toyota adopted the use of renewable energies to reduce harmful gas emissions. Failure for a business to follow regulations and preserve the environment can result in negative company reviews, which can affect company profitability, and at times harsh measures like company shutdown can be implemented.

The statement "A business's only responsibility is to produce profits" is unacceptable and misleading for any entrepreneur. Business is highly dependent on the productivity of its shareholders, and at the same time, they are dependent on the business, creating a symbiotic relationship. The shareholders and the business must take care of each other. A profitable business needs to maximize company value, company culture, and the company image in the society. Many companies had realized the importance attached to company social responsibility, unlike traditionally when the company capitalized on profit-making by using harsh methods against its workers to increase productivity. Businesses have a role in growing the society it operates and, at the same time, preserve the localities' natural environments, reducing any form of pollution.

References

Handy, C., 2002. What is business for?. Harvard Business Review, December.

Berniak-Wozny, J., and Wilks, D.C., 2018. Corporate Social Responsibility Towards Employees with Caring Responsibilities-Preliminary Findings in Selected Polish and Portuguese Companies. Business and Non-Profit Organizations Facing Increased Competition and Growing Customers'demands, p.345.

Schuler, D., Rasche, A., Etzion, D., and Newton, L., 2017. Guest editors' introduction: corporate sustainability management and environmental ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(2), pp.213-237.

Grayson, D., and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.

Zhao, X.Y., Frese, M., and Giardini, A., 2010. Business owners' network size and business growth in China: The role of comprehensive social competency. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 22(7-8), pp.675-705.