A. It is important for a business to be socially responsible, not only to financially benefit their shareholders and investors, but also for moral and ethical reasons. Company Q has the attitude that maximizing profit is their only priority. They closed two stores due to profit loss. Within the remaining stores, they have chosen to limit the products that the community is requesting as they are high-margin items. Instead of choosing to help the community by donating their day-old products to the local food bank, they have made the decision to throw out all that food to avoid any potential theft of company employees. A1. Based on the decisions that Company Q has made to close stores, only offer a few healthy and organic items, and not donating out-of-date products, one would come to the conclusion that Company Q is not concerned with their social responsibility.
A1a. Patrons in their community have asked for products that are health-conscious and organic, yet Company Q restricts the number of items they will provide because their profit is higher on the items that are not organically grown and less healthy. Donating day-old products would benefit the less fortunate in the community, yet Company Q’s only worry is fraud and theft among their employees. With just these two items in mind, the narrow-minded thinking of this company of putting profit in front of what is right for their community shows how apathetic the management of this company is to society.
B. Recommend three actions that Company Q could take to improve the company’s attitude toward social responsibility, based on the information described in the scenario.
In order to improve the company’s attitude toward social responsibility, Company Q could create and implement a system that would keep employees honest and responsible for the day old products and work out a schedule with the local