Business
Corporate community, collaborations helped to improve the public image of Unilever Company. From the case study, it led to the destruction of the environment through converting of rain forests into palm plantations. This conversion led to incidences of soil erosion, water pollution and relocation of indigenous people. This created a negative image for the company. Participation in sustainable development programs helped the company in solving labor disputes. Also, it led to the improvement of the recruitment process. The company was paying low wages to its employees. The need to increase employee loyalty made the company engage in the, corporate community, collaborations. There was high labor turnover among the plantation workers since they were paid low wages. Engagement of the company in community collaborations would help increase confidence among the employees. Economic performance of a company is dependent on the social performance. Corporate community, collaborations are a way of achieving social performance (Barak).
Increase in wages requires an increase in output. The company should improve on soap production. Increase in wages without an increase in output would lead to a decrease in the net profit of the company. Increase in output requires diversification of plantations. This would lead to an increase in the quantity of soap produced. Participation in community corporate collaborations would help improve the living conditions of the palm workers. They can engage in community services such as sponsoring of bright students whose parents are the palm workers. Creation of employment opportunities to the indigenous people would help in the improvement of the living standards of palm workers. The level of sustainable development plan would increase. The development plan strategies of diversification of plantations and enhancing agricultural practices would be achieved.
Encouraging the government of Ghana to carry out palm plantations in large-scale can play a crucial role in improving the world wide conditions. This would lead to production of excess soaps for export purposes. Ghana would gain attention from the world market. Other countries would be interested in implementing the agricultural practices practiced in Ghana. This would help in improving sustainable agriculture practices worldwide. Unilever should encourage Ghana to enter the oil palm industry. This leads to an increase in competition, thus increasing the quality of the soaps produced. Markets dominated by a single seller leads to the emergence of monopoly firms. Monopolies are a source of market failure. Monopoly firms produce products which do not meet the quality required by the customers. Also, they charge a high price for their products. Competition is thus essential in preventing the market imperfections created by monopolies. Economic conditions of Ghana would improve (Barak).
Divesting of palm oil plantations leads to diseconomy of scale. Dis-economies of scale arise from a reduction in the size of a company which leads to a decrease in the market share of the company. There would be a decrease in the quantity of soap produced. There would be a decrease of revenue to the government in the form of taxes paid by the company. Divesting also leads to a decrease in the employment opportunities. In addition, competition in the world market is going to increase. This is because of the decrease in the market share of the company. However, there would be an improvement in the management of the company. A large company is more difficult to manage than a small firm. Unilever would still have influence over the triple bottom line palm industry. The bottom line palm industry would require the assistance of Unilever Company in the production of soaps.
The government’s subsidization of Aborigines’ employment would lead to increase in unemployment in the short run. The majority of the indigenous population would remain unemployed. This would create distress among the indigenous population. In the long run, the unemployment status would lead to a decline in the economy. The government would spend a lot of money in the provision of basic needs of the unemployed indigenous people. Incidences of crime and immorality would increase. People would be using illegal methods to look for basic needs. The number of school going children would be lower than in a situation where there is low unemployment level.
Receiving money for training and hiring indigenous employees does not impact the perceived value of Eurest’s action. This is an induced action from the government. The need to carry out the training was initiated by the government. It is not self driven action. Eurest was working with the Australian government, to promote employment opportunities for the indigenous population. However, the actions of Eurest business are important in creating employment opportunities for the indigenous people. The action ought to have been initiated by Eurest business, and not by the Australian government. The Australian government would have joined Eurest business in helping the indigenous people. In this case, the actions were commenced by Australian government, but implementation was done by Eurest business.
The actions of Eurest would improve the customer loyalty. Customers would have a good public image of Eurest business. There would be a rise in the number of customers. The majority of the indigenous people would buy products from Eurest business. There would be an improvement in customer relations with the business. The morale of employees would increase. Employee motivation may be increased by a good corporate image. Employees are proud of being associated with the company. This leads to an increase in the service delivery process by the employees. Motivation leads to increase in productivity of the worker.
Introduction of indigenous employees to the workplace help in increasing their motivation. The introduction helps in improving the relationship between the indigenous employees and the other workers. It helps in the integration process of the employee in the workplace. The dedicated ITEP manager is meant to monitor the performance of the indigenous employees. After employment, the indigenous employees may be reluctant in sharing their challenges with the other managers. This happens mainly in the initial stage of employment. ITEP manager and introduction into the workplace help in creating good interpersonal relationships among all employees in an organization. Challenges facing indigenous employees can be easily identified by their manager. The indigenous employees would feel appreciated in the workplace. However, this may lead to duplication of tasks. There would be two managers performing the same task. The two elements are important in improving the motivation of indigenous employees. (Barak)
There exist cases of Aboriginal controversies, which are being, addressed. Issues relating to the have been identified, and actions are being implemented to eliminate the controversies. This would increase the level of motivation of the employees. Customers would still remain loyal. There would be an increase in business activities. Government partners would continue supporting Eurest in the elimination of Aboriginal controversies.
Works Cited
Barak, Michalle Mor. Diversity Management: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. New York: Sage Publishers, 2011.
Philip Kotler, Nancy Lee. Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. New York: John Wiley & Sons,, 2011.
