The Soul: Where Modern Society Fails
Business is part of society. It paves way for sustainable development in the future but its impact and “market share” are changing. The crucial pillars of business leading to stability have traditionally been measured like the four legs of a stool. A business is composed of risk, competition, profit, and ownership. Their interactions were seen as complex but necessary for the successful growth of business and even societal ventures. Today, these pillars need to be redefined because they no longer sufficiently sustain the corporation and the present world.
But shifts come about, and the discipline of marketing is the most affected. A key tenet of marketing is reverence for the customer. However, firms often choose a predatory approach, which at Georgetown some have labeled inappropriate, unjust, and counterproductive “vampire marketing.” Typically, this takes place when the key consumption decision has already been made, but circumstances allow for additional offers. High minibar charges in a hotel or pillows for rent on an airplane may serve as examples.
More importantly, the failures of the companies’ soul not only cause the loss of profit and reputation but also reduce the trust of consumers. In 2008, a milk scandal in China with the tainted infant formula of Sanlu Group involved 300,000 victims and four deaths of babies, which eventually led to the bankruptcy of Sanlu one year later. In a diesel emission scandal in Germany, Volkswagen (VW) affected 11 million of consumers with a test defeat device installed to cheat government tests of performance. Within one year, the cost and penalties, which resulted from public scrutiny, surpassed since we go for an international market, the United States is important. Perhaps use USD $16 billion. Severe declines in reputations and credence, leading to judicial steps against Volkswagen’s former CEO, Winterkorn and imprisonment for the head of the subsidiary Audi, took the cost well beyond $22 billion. In the United States, Wells Fargo fired 5,300 employees for illegally intervening with customer accounts to obtain personal bonuses.
An insufficient guiding soul of business often brings deleterious financial impact to business. The way companies are guided and shift directions seems to be fundamentally slow. A firm without a soul seems to be inhibited from taking new actions, which should have been directed by cognizant managers responsive to deep problems.