December 22, 2006

Corporate values show in the way suppliers - not customers - are handled

Posted at 19:43 in knowledge-conscious management.

When companies relate their "values" to the way they handle customers, they only state the reason for their existence. "We are focused on the customer" is like saying "We work to eat". Right. It has nothing to do with ethics.

Real values appear start to show when the company gives away something to its customers for free without expecting anything in return, when it is absolutely unnecessary, out of pure benevolence. They also show in the company's attitude towards the weaker part of its constituency i.e. its low-level employees, when it strives to give them personal development opportunities. But the single and most clear sign of the values conveyed by an company can be seen in its attitude towards its suppliers. If it squeezes the profit margins away from them and dumps them whenever they get a better deal elsewhere, it really shows that its "values" boil down to survival of the fittest. Pure social darwinism and nothing else.

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