Introduction
Investment and risk denominates some of the essentials in the function of management, and it is known as a pre-requisite as far as managing and confirming things accordingly. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Governance and Business Ethics are some of the parts that deem necessary for an organization to have their existence for a longer span of time. There are numerous organizations in the world which are actually in the favor of delivering the best to their consumers, employees and management as well (Bredeson, p.34).
In order to effective manages the employees and operations of a company, there is a need to comply with the basic ethical stance of the industries. In this current world wherein organizations are running towards extra benefits and having a perfect market share, they have to be in line with the management and should comply accordingly in this stance. Compliance accordingly with different aspects is the major thing through which an organization can take effectiveness, and can deliver the best thing in the town. There are numerous organizations in the world that breached the code of conduct and ethical standards during their operations, while there are certain organizations that are complying accordingly with all the operations and things accordingly (Brenkert and Beauchamp, p.56).
Background
Ethical stance and standards are some of the essentials for an entity, and when it is related to the risk management department of a company, and then its famousness would double. It is requested in this assignment to refer with a case study of Ford Pinto, and then argued on a business ethical stance of the choice. It is important to pen down a thesis statement first related to the ethical case and then move towards the core analysis of this section
Thesis Statement: Is it right for Ford Pinto to be treating a decision as a business decision, if it has a huge impact over the life of the humans?
Analysis and Findings
The Ford Pinto is a subcompact care that produced by the Ford Motor Company, one of the largest car manufacturing company of the world. The car was introduced in the year 1971 to 1980. In the start, it was introduced as a two door Sedan; however the company added numbers of models like hatchback and Wagon Model in the same year to make it more effective and prosperous. It was a high priced car at that time, but the engine and outlook of the car was not great and attractive. Though, it was a product of Ford Company, which has the accolade to launch the best cars and vehicles in the world, and has a great goodwill in their hands (O'Sullivan, Smith and Esposito, p.60). The company introduced numerous cars for their consumers which are essential and effective due to its looks, and outer levels. Apart from that the pricing associated with the products of the company were also effective and essential.
According to the case of Ford Pinto, there are numerous business decisions which have been made by the company on the basis and launching of this car, and make it available to the consumers all over the world, and especially to the people of the United States. Among number of decisions that affected the consumers of the company were pricing decision and promotional decision (Peterson and Ferrell, p.90).
As per the case of Ford Pinto, the associated price of the company with the vehicle was comparatively higher than the cars or vehicles found at that time. The company was not in the favor to utilize its overall resources accordingly, and in a dominating fashion, due to which there were numerous problems encountered with them. The pricing structure and strategy of Ford Pinto at that time was Premium Pricing (PP), in which the company charged comparatively high prices as their competitors. The thesis statement is addressing the same thing, in which Ford Pinto was thinking that their pricing decision and strategy is up to the mark, but the reality is far away from them (Peterson and Ferrell, p.102). The pricing strategy of Ford Pinto actually hurt the consumers of the company, because the car was not as effective and quality wise powerful as the prices have been charged on it. The company had an idea about the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of the people of the United States (US), but the car was made with full stroke engines and powerful silencer had an associated price of $ 2,000 in the start. That was the main thing, due to which the company envisaged a real tough time in managing and attracting their consumers for a long span of time. That particular issue was addressed before the management as well, but unfortunately, the management was unable to rectify the issue, and stated that the price is a business decision, and we are not concerned with the fact that it is not affordable for the consumers. It was a business decision which affected the entire life of the individuals and consumers of Ford, and it should not be treating as a business decision in the future, because Ford had a remarkable goodwill in the eyes of the consumers, and after the Pinto case, the philosophy and operations of the company got blurred. This particular incident was a serious crime, and a dominating example of the risk management issue pertaining to the company, as far as managing their employees are concerned.
The next business decision which was highlighted in the analysis was promotional decision (Treviño and Nelson, p.56). Promotion is one of the strongest parts of an organization, and organizations have to be cautious while promote their products in different markets of the world. Before delivering the product to the market, every organization promotes their products with one of the mediums of promotion to get appreciation in the market (Treviño and Nelson, p.66). According to the ethical practice, promotional decisions should be made on the power that it would not affect the ethical or religious beliefs of the individuals. Any act or promotional that affect the religious or ethical beliefs of the people will be very painful for the people, hence organizations should advertise and promote their products without breaching the laws and hurt the beliefs of the individuals. Though, the case was not in the association with Ford Pinto at that time, because the company was not in the mood to market the products by ruining the ethical beliefs or criticizing. However, the car was designed and promoted to the general public by targeting high income individuals. The slogan of the company at that time was “Affordability is our first priority”, but unfortunately, the company didn’t comply with the same. The decision was a business decision as promotion is an important activity of a business, but the way in which it is delivered and accomplishes was not the right one for the company, and the company should not acted it as a ethical decision making structure for the company.
Conclusion
Every organization of the world is trying to deliver quality services and products to the consumers. The main reasons behind delivering best services and quality to the consumers is that organizations are now in a mood to get an edge over its competitors. Business decisions are essential for the entities, and it is the only thing that empowers them to get the right things at the right time. The thesis statement which has been used in the analysis related to business decisions. After a critical analysis of the case of Food Pinto, it is found that the decisions that would impact heavily over the consumers must not be regarded as the business decisions, because without consumers there would be no business, and organizations cannot spur the growth of their products with these juvenile strategies, as did by Ford Pinto.
Work Cited
Bredeson, Dean. Applied Business Ethics. 1st ed. Mason, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Brenkert, George G, and Tom L Beauchamp. The Oxford Handbook Of Business Ethics. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
O'Sullivan, Patrick, Mark Smith, and Mark Esposito. Business Ethics. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Peterson, Robert A, and O. C Ferrell. Business Ethics. 1st ed. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. Print.
Treviño, Linda Klebe, and Katherine A Nelson. Managing Business Ethics. 1st ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004. Print.
