LaKisha K. Collins-Mitchell
Salesmanship/ MRKT 350
July 14, 2013
Professor Aimee McKinney
Abstract
How can ethics play an important role in cost and price analysis? How can you make sure that what you are doing is ethical? “Business ethics compromise principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business” (Manning, Ahearne, & Reece, 2012). A company will have a better success rate, if every employee practices ethics. “Companies that have a particular level of ethical standards attract the best employees in the business, and people tend to gravitate toward doing business with them” (Lundin, 2010). Being ethical is what builds long term committed customers. You can make sure what you are doing is ethical by doing the right thing, regardless if it is popular or not.
What is ethics and business ethics? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. Business ethics is defined as “The study of proper business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide a basic framework that businesses may choose to follow in order to gain public acceptance” (Investopedia, 2013). Ethics can play a very important role in price and cost analysis. Business ethics begins with the CEO or owner of the company. If the person in charge practices ethics, then the below personnel will also follow suit. Without business policies and practices, the company will start to plummet. A company that begins to lose employees, regardless if they are terminated or resign, will notice a decrease in their cost and price analysis. It takes time and money to train new employees and to retrain current employees. “Organizations in the United States spend more than $126 billion annually on training and development, or more than $1,000 per employee on average” (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). Companies depend on customers and/or clients to help establish and keep their business growing. If they have employees they do not follow the company’s business policies and practices, customers and clients will do business elsewhere. Customers like to feel appreciated. In order to maintain a great customer-client relationship, company employees must know how to interact with the person that they are dealing with. “Customer satisfaction is the degree of satisfaction provided by the goods or services of a company as measured by the number of repeat customers” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2013). Companies also depend on their employees to do what is ethically right. According to Selling Today, most companies provide their employees with guidelines when it comes to sharing confidential information, reciprocity, bribery, gift-giving, entertainment, and business face several lawsuits and potentially be forced out of business. “A company cannot enjoy long- term success unless its employees are honest, ethical, and uncompromising about values and principles” (Manning, Ahearne, & Reece, 2012). An individual can make sure what they are doing is ethical by simply following the guidelines that the company they work for as established or by doing what is considered to be right. An employee should always be honest, regardless if it will hurt the sale or make the sale. Customers depend on the salesperson to provide them with information on the product that they are selling. Why sell a product to a customer that will not fit their needs? In order