Profit: Organizational Viability Considerations and Recommendations
A business is formed primarily to profit its founders and employees. As part of the 3BL, profit is a co-equal consideration with business impacts on the planet and people. However, profit is the only of the three that is essential to the operation of the business; if the business is not making profit, then the next-best-case scenario is that the business is breaking even. That means that the business is stagnant and unable to invest in expansion and development without cutting jobs or reducing product costs. And of course, the worst case scenario is that the business is losing money, and its days are numbered. Therefore, profit is the only one of the 3BLs that needs to be maintained in order to keep the business running. A business can ignore its commitments to people and the planet and still continue operations. However, it is necessary for the business to maintain the other components of the 3BL in order to be truly successful.
Maintenance of profit is a balancing act. The business must ensure that corporate profit drawn from the community balances the profits that the community draws from the corporation. In other words, the company must be a benefit to the community as much as the community is a benefit to the company. The biggest benefit that a company provides to a community comes in the form of jobs and employment; a company hires members of a community and pays them a decent wage, which in turn drives economic growth in the community. This benefit must be in balance with the benefit that the company gets from the workers; in other words, if a company benefits from productive, skilled employees and makes very large profits, the employees would be ...
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...dations of a business, and without managing them effectively, a business can find itself falling behind in the marketplace. The Triple Bottom Line creates a three-tiered focus for the company to work towards. If a company commits to maintaining the Triple Bottom Line, then the company makes a commitment to remain viable and in-touch with the ever-changing marketplace.
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The word profit is used in many different contexts such as day to day business transactions to a discussion about a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Yet, what is profit and what kind of social implications are there when this is one of the main focuses within our economy? The pursuit of profit is one of the underlying features that make up our capitalist system. It sparks that competitive drive among businesses and corporations. The simple definition of profit is “when a ...
Through out his tenure at Sunbeam,Al Dunlap’s advocated profit by firing many employees and shutting down many factories.If we look at it in the short term ,this approach seems very attractive as it brings in quick short term gains.In the long term ,however, such a decision would not ensure the sustainability of the company. Profitability and responsibility can and should be combined in an ideal world, however it is clear that they are at least partially contradictory. Shareholder pressure should not force a company to make short-term decisions that might be detrimental to the long-term profitability of the company.
We probably all agree that the primary objective of any business is to achieve revenue and attain a certain profit. But then here is the question that we might ask, is profit the only element that should be considered when making business decisions? In my point of view the answer is no as I will try to demonstrate throughout this paper. One quick alternative of what should be the first top priority of a business is creating a customer as Dr.Peter Drucker said. According to him “The customer is the foundation of a business and keeps it in existence. He alone gives employment. To supply the wants and needs of a consumer, society entrusts wealth-producing resources to the business enterprise.” (Santayana, George. Is The Tyranny Of Shareholder Value Finally Ending? )
Shum, P. K., & Yam, S. L. 2011. Ethics and law: Guiding the invisible hand to correct corporate social responsibility externalities. Journal of Business Ethics, 98, 549-571.
In business the primary focus is on maximizing returns to owners or shareholders. The manner in which a business conducts itself while attempting to make its profit can be considered ethical or not. For instance, a business that has a positive sense of social responsibility will make some effort to have a positive impact on society, contributing to the welfare of the community in which it operates in some way or another. Unethical practice in business could include the converse of this, where a business is solely concerned about its profit and does not attempt to mitigate the impact of its operations in that society. For example, a mining exploration company that does not attempt to ease discomfort and inconvenience of the people that are displaced by its operations could be considered unethical.
earn from the business and shaping their way of living. For these and other reasons, it is
There are four key resources that can be broken down into categories; human, financial, physical and intellectual (Martin, 2015). Effective key activities are vital pieces of the puzzle that help the business deliver its value propositions ("20 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas Made Easy," n.d.). These activities need to be carried out so the product or service that was promised can be delivered ("20 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas Made Easy," n.d.). These particular activities coincide with the revenue stream building block, which is a procedure a company follows to get their chosen customer segments to purchase the service or product. A revenue stream can be generated seven ways; an asset sale, a usage fee, a subscription fee, lending/leasing/renting, licensing, a brokerage fee, and finally advertising (Martin,
The business plan will also be useful in facilitating the adoption of a strategy that will help the business prosper in the modern market. The plan will be a critical tool that will help in the production of a reliable strategy for attaining the goals and objectives. The proposed business plan will be implemented in three years time. Within the first three years, the business i...
Most companies are profit oriented. Companies survive and live on profit. Even governmental institutions, NGO's and NPO's are profit oriented, what they do with profit is different though. Saying this means that companies seek always to be at a position where profit is maximized. As we know by now this happens when MC=MR but this is an always changing point as supply and demand are dynamic, effectively meaning that if firms get it right once they can't just do the same eternally, they still need to adapt to every market factor as a new change is a new reality all together that needs to be studied and addressed. All of these changes happen in what is called the market, where suppliers and consumers meet to reach a level that suits the interests of both parties involved.
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It is very important to keep the Triple Bottom Line in balance. When the focus is on one element only, the other two elements will suffer. For example, when making profit gets too much priority, human beings and the environment will suffer, for instance due to poor working conditions or destruction of nature. However, one should also not forget that profit is an essential part of development, which should not be neglected.
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Employees at every level have an interest in how the business is performing financially, as it impacts their remuneration.