Business Case Analysis: Malden Mills
As I grow up, I learn that making decisions whether big or small can and will not only affect myself, but the people around me as well. I learned that making decisions aren’t always easy, and should be carefully thought about as there may be certain consequences in every situation or decision being made. Because of that, I was taught to make decisions that I believe is the right thing to do, for the benefit of others and myself. However, there may be instances wherein you choose to be selfish and do what you think is right, whether or not it may be in other people’s favor or liking.
Likewise, in society we are encouraged to make decisions that supposedly benefit the common good or society as a whole, even though there may be instances wherein certain individuals or groups of people may not benefit as much as they would like to. As good and as pure one’s intentions are, there is always a saying ‘you cannot please everyone’. However, back to what I previously mentioned — in society or the real world, we must do what is beneficial for the common good.
With that being said, in the business world, I believe that the common good should be an important business principle in order to truly serve and contribute to the betterment of society and economy. Prioritizing not only the customers but the employees, the quality of goods and services, and even using the business as an opportunity and platform to help and serve the less fortunate are equally as important as well. In a business, I believe that it is important to be a role model or lead as an example by being honest with your work, actions, and decisions and leading or serving others with pure intentions in order to contribute to the common good and put your platform or business to good use. As one prioritizes or chooses the common good, a business may be able to flourish both inside and outside because the customers and employees are taken into consideration when making decisions.
In light of this, I believe that business should not entirely exist to maximize shareholders value or increase wealth for its owners. Although it is important to earn profit or increase wealth in order for owners to continue running a business, it should not be the end goal or purpose. In creating or running a business with pure intentions, business owner/s should use the opportunity to contribute to society and serve the community with the unique goods and services they can provide, and not solely exist to benefit the owners alone. Furthermore, in a business I believe that the owners or shareholders must be selfless and open-minded, by putting others before themselves and not put up a business and focus on earning wealth or profit solely for their own good.
In line with that, I believe that businesses should have a purpose that seems equally as important, and if better, more than just earning profit. This is for the reason that I believe it is good for a business or company to have a balanced goal of both earning profit and serving others. Having a healthy balance benefits both parties inside and outside of the business, and helps the business run and keep everyone happy. However, there is nothing wrong with having a deeper purpose than just to earn profit, such as non-profit organizations and businesses whose purpose and goals are to help different aspects of the community, without expecting a reward or anything in return. Different businesses have their own unique goals and purposes in society so I personally believe that there is nothing wrong with wanting to earn profit as their purpose, as long as it is not for profit alone.
In relation to this, a business having its own purpose or healthy balance of serving and creating profit, comes with a code of ethics to adhere to. I believe that a business owner must follow and live out the code of ethics all throughout their business journey, in order to maintain transparency, respect, and understanding amongst his or her peers. It is important to adhere to a code of ethics because the decision of a business owner can and will affect the people in and out of the business. A code of ethics will promote human development and honesty of work not only for the business owner/s but the employees as well, and serve as a guide to keep everyone in line.
Aaron Feuerstein, a company owner of Malden Mills was respected and adored by many, as he was a business leader who prioritized and took care of his employees. Later on his journey, his business encountered a problem that brought about several challenge as his factory completely burned down to ashes, at risk of shutting down business completely. This became a problem as the company had to rebuild the burnt factory which in the process brings the employees at risk of losing their jobs or even at risk of the company shutting down. However, Aaron Feuerstein being the company owner, is the decision maker who resulted and chose to rebuild the company in the same exact site, and prioritize the welfare of his employees, not allowing 3000 of them to lose their jobs instead of choosing to keep the $300 million insurance to himself and retire, or rebuild the factory elsewhere for better opportunities. Aaron did not have to think twice about his decision of putting his employees first, as he felt it was his obligation and responsibility to his employees and community to keep them employed and to keep the business running. Because of that, he continued to give his employees their salaries while the factory was still in the process of re-construction. With that, I believe it was in his best interest to choose the common good as his criteria to come up with a good decision in the company’s unfortunate situation. As a good business leader, I believe that he chose to do the common good which is to make a decision that still benefits his people, and the company rather than just himself. With that being said, I personally believe that the alternative courses of action would be to think about the cause of the fire, to avoid it from happening again in the future. This may help the company plan for future accidents for extra precaution especially since they have to rebuild the factory. Moreover, another action may be to prioritize the safety and health of the workers by attending to employees who may be in need of medical assistance, and for future purposes invest in their health insurance or healthcare if ever a situation like this may arise again. Moreover, due to the unfortunate situation another alternative action would be to make the employees work from home, so that they may still be able to work and help keep the company running, and so the payroll or wages still being given to them would not be put to waste while waiting for the re-construction of the factory. Lastly, based on the alternative courses of action mentioned, I would recommend to first ask help from the community as the company is in crisis, in order to help maintain economic stability, then have the employees work from home to alleviate the burden and damage caused to the company. This may help the owners and employees still contribute to the company and community as the people in the community along with several business trust and depend on the products.
