Business News Research Assignment BAM107Winter 2016
Section:
Trump Taj Bankruptcy left many contractors angry
Summary of Article:
The Wall street journal article evaluates the action of the Donald Trump as a business man filing for bankruptcy following the completion of the construction of the Taj casino in Atlanta in 1990. While it is not unlawful to file for bankruptcy in the U.S, Trump took advantage of weaknesses in the bankruptcy law to deny the various contractors that worked on the project the opportunity to earn an income. His action therefore raised ethical concerns. The article seeks to evaluate the role that ethics plays in the business environment and whether any business transaction can be judged independently of the ethical concerns that it raises. Secondly, despite Trump being aware of his impending financial troubles, he insisted on having the construction works completed yet he bore a moral responsibility to inform the various contractors of his financial situation early enough to prevent them from incurring any further losses (Condon).
Business Topic Analysis and Chapter#:
An evaluation of the unethical practices in relation any transaction is important in understanding business ethics. This is because the stated reasons for the unethical behavior in Trump’s case point to a poor organizational culture in his business ventures and personal character. There is a positive co-relation between a progressive organizational culture and a positive business ethics environment. An organizational culture in which greed is tolerated is bound to lead to unethical behavior in the long-run as illustrated by the high cases in sector. There is need to create an effective boundary between healthy competition and outright greed in order to ensure there is an ethical environment. It is also incumbent upon the leadership of any organization to duly inform their stakeholders of any impending concerns that might affect the business as a going concern.
For there to be an effective organizational culture, leadership (management) plays a vital role. By internalizing ethical standards, an organization’s leadership can then oversee the cascading down of the same to the other employees. Failure to be proactive in enforcing ethical standards with regard to leadership would result in a breakdown of the organizational culture. It is illustrated by the practice on the part of the management of Trump’s business relation to the construction of the Taj casino in which there was complacency and an outright lack of responsibility. By having such unethical behavior, it is evident that the entire organization is bound to have a poor culture due to failures in leadership.
Business Term and Page#: Business ethics
Topic2:
Summary of Article:
The article evaluates the synergies that a firm experiences through investments in information technology such as the cloud. The article uses a case study of one of the firms in India (Exotel) that deals with a high number of calls and texts and how investment in the cloud helped reduce redundancy and improve productivity by enabling it handle multiple calls and texts using the same level of infrastructure (Mint). The article therefore recommends increased capacity investment especially in information technology. The author is of the view that investments in information technology create a higher potential for an established business to increase its profitability without necessarily having to exit the market or divest. The article also points out the importance of timing such investments. A business should invest in I.T early enough before it has begun experiencing a decline in profitability as well as before its competitors catch up so as to attract a premium and market experience. The advantage of the of the investment in digital systems also helps protect the privacy of clients hence such a business has a competitive edge of its competitors (Mint).
Business Topic Analysis and Chapter#:
The importance of investing in I.T capacity especially through leveraging on the cloud cannot be underestimated. The benefits that arise as a result of such an investment can be looked at from two perspectives; it raises the total factor productivity (TPF) by reducing redundancies occasioned in a traditional form of business and secondly it raises the level of connectivity that exists between the business and its clients.
Investment in information technology provides an effective link among the various stakeholders. It is especially the case considering that the current trend emphasizes a move towards the convergence of information technology and other business processes. Therefore, failure by any business to invest in the same would hamper its ability to adapt to the current market conditions. By raising the level of productivity in an organization, it makes it possible for the business to raise its level of profitability with minimal new investments in capital and labor in the short run.
Business Term and Page#: Information technology
Personal Impact
I have learnt that the benefits that a business accrues as a result of unethical behaviour do not last in the long run. It is exemplified by Trump’s actions who despite having a good reputation before his financial troubles surfaced was faced with bankruptcy issues as a result of his unethical behaviour. Unethical behaviour therefore affects the competitiveness and quality. While enforcing ethical behaviour may not always be in the immediate interest of a business, it has an undue impact on the organizational culture and as a result, it may affect its productivity in the long run. It is also important for the management in any business establishment to provide leadership in terms of adhering to ethical behaviour if such behaviour is to permeate through the entire organization. Secondly, any form of business has to ensure that it remains relevant to its target market for a long period in order to protect its market share and raise profitability. It therefore calls for increased investments in information technology in line with the move towards total technology convergence by all spheres of the society. The research has also helped me realize that many aspects of a business organization rather than being purely dependent on the organizational culture are also largely dependent on the personal characters of the stakeholders since the two are inseparable. It is therefore important for a business to make all efforts to ensure that the integrity and values of those that it engages with is above board. It is also the case that the ethics play an important role in any business organization hence it cannot be separated from any business decision undertaken regardless of its associated costs. Therefore, a business does not only have an obligation unto itself in terms of raising profitability but also to the rest of its stakeholders and in extension the society.
Works Cited
Condon. Trump Taj Bankruptcy left many contractors angry. Wall Street
Mint. Using cloud to connect customers. HT Media limited [July 6, 2016].
Web. July 6, 2016
