Business Ethics And Manners In Retailing Sector: An Essay.

Analysis of retail sector

Discuss about the Business Ethics and Manners in Retailing Sector.

In this study it has been discussed that the ethics are the business rules which governs the future state of any business. The main focus of this study is ethics and the  factors related to the ethics. This study discussed that the ethics are necessary for the smooth running of the business and how business ethics contributed to the retail sector of the economy. Ethical challenges which are faced by the retail sector, sustainability factors are discussed in this study. Key drivers which manage the retail sectors are discussed in this study. This study is having the objective to enhance the retail sector, to capture the largest market and to grow more and more by reducing the ethical issues and satisfying the customers. This study shows each and every aspect of the ethics in retail sector has both negative and the positive sides.

According to Burch and Lawrence (2013), ethics are eventually the principles by which the behavior of individuals are governed. Ethics play a vital role in the Retail sector of the economy. The  Retail sector faced various ethical and other issues in their area. These challenges and issues are becoming the obstacle in attaining the full potential of the industry.  These issues are as follows:

1. Corporate social responsibility– CSR is fundamentally a concept of enlarged responsibilities. CSR evaluates the values of an organization, these values are between the organization and the environment of the organization. It is basically the responsibility for the customers of the business. CSR amalgamates different factors like environmental, economic, and social and ethical factors. It impacts the retail service at the largest extent. In order to develop the relationship between the organization and its customers, it will take a lot of amount. This amount is large for the retailers as their profit margins are very low and maintaining CSR is very expensive.
2. Green issue- According to Chkanikova and Mont (2015), the green issue is related to the overcoming from the impact or damage, which can happen because of the environment. Now-a day’s going green is becoming the trend in the corporate world or the business world. This issue differs from business to business and the organization to organization. Retailers are also showing their interest in going green on retailing. If any business will not follow the concept of going green, then it will create the negative impact on the image of business and causes to the wastage of  resources. Green products are highly rated and will decrease the margin of the retailers in the organization and rise as a challenge for the retailers.
3. Product safety- According to Cullen et al. (2013), unsafe products were the main challenge for the growth of organizations. Retailers are direct providers for  consumers, so they are ultimately responsible for the consumers. This risk is associated with the usefulness of the product to the customers. The  retailer should be aware regarding what they are selling; selling the products which are unsafe can destroy the faith of the customer.
4. Ethical sourcing- Better working conditions are required nowadays. According to Fernie and Sparks (2014), ethical sourcing is a major problem for the retailers, because when the working conditions for workers and others, they started losing their interest in their work. Better working conditions are the motivation for employees.

Sustainable focus- According to Goworek et. al. (2012),  sustainability refers to  stability or what survives for long. Retail industry or every industry needs sustainability or stability, retail industry focused on many areas for the purpose of sustainability. These focused areas are transported, Carbon footprint and use of renewable energy etc. for eg. Some retailers set up their malls and shops nearby the bus stands or railway stations in order to reduce the transportation cost air they switch their transportation rail to the road. Warehouses are also located to new places, in order to reduce the road miles. This will ultimately cause to the sustainability of the business when there is wide reach and lower costs. Infrastructure, raw material and many other factors are there which can maintain the sustainability of the organization.

Major stakeholders in the retail sector- According to Ingram et al. (2012), the retailing sector includes different business areas. There are many areas which are contributing to the industry on the largest extent because the retailing industry is good for the basic consumers. Food and Grocery contribute the major part in the total retail area, which is about 60% of the total retail. Clothing industry & footwear and  non-institutional areas are the other main contributors to the country. Entertainment, Sports goods, Equipment and books these segments overall contributes (2.71%).

Factors driving the retail sector to manage business ethics more effectively

According to Johnston et. al. (2016),  in order to manage the business ethics more effectively many key drivers are there. Businessmens are aware regarding the importance of the ethical issues and they want improvement for the same. Self-regulation is basically producing the impressive results. These are the following factors,

1. Code of ethics: Code of ethics is eventually the morale or the self-made rules which justify the behavior. This will help the managers to firstly work according to ethics and then manage the business according to that.
2. Legislation: According to Trevino et al. (2016), the government will always enact laws in the situation when the businessmen behave completely unethical and selfish. Businessmen forget about his responsibility, then such misbehavior cannot be tolerated by any society. This continued behavior will exert pressure on the Government. This will result as the Government has last options to prohibit  unhealthy behavior.
3. Rules and regulation of government- The Slaws support Government regulations regarding the working conditions, product safety, statutory warning etc. These provide some guidelines to the business managers in determining what are acceptable or recognized standards and practices.
4. Code of company- When any company starts growing, its standards of  conduct started rising. Unethical  conduct of any  related individual to the company will on the part of the company shall endanger its  reputation and goodwill. By maintaining these issues and the image of the company ethical issues can be maintained, as a result of good image customers will stick with the same retailer.

According to Schmiedel et al. (2012), business ethics are the general problems which direct  human behavior. These business ethics are managed in order to grow and expand the business. These managed ethics are helping retail sector as follows:

1. Maximises profitability: Business ethics help to enhance the effectiveness in the retail sector. For effective business ethics, profitability will be maximized because of CSR strategy will be used.
2. Social welfare: According to Spaargaren et al. (2013), in the retail sector, due to adoption of CSR strategy, social welfare is the foremost priority of enhancement of business ethics. For the fulfillment in social welfare, customers will be satisfied and attracted. It increases the higher return and goodwill and maintaining the stability in the business.
3. Quality enhancement: Due to the advancement in the quality regarding products and services availed to customers; the purchasing capacity will be enhanced. The quality level is increased and customers will be more attracted to purchase the product. This will enhance the business ethics to an extent.
4. Enhance market share: According to Ulrich et. al. (2012), the business ethics will enhance the retail sector by increasing the market share of the business. So that knowledge will be provided for the business to grow. Examples include competitors, updating technologies are the strategies in which market share will be increased.
5. Customer welfare- When ethics are managed in any business then it will work in the welfare of the society. Society welfare causes to the satisfaction of the customers and which ultimately tends to the increase in sales and profit.

Conclusion

From this study it has been concluded that the business ethics are vital for every industry including the retail industry. Business ethics causes to increase the social welfare of the society and motivates the employees in the organization. Business ethics basically binds the behaviour or what to do or what not to do. The main purpose of the research is to find out the importance and role of the ethics in the retail business, how ethics are useful in the retailing business. Business ethics when get managed will become beneficial for the business and create profitability in the business. The  objectives of this study are to know the challenges which retail industry is facing and to know the reasons behind the issues. How these issues can be managed and what steps should be taken can be decided after this study. The limitations of this study that business ethics causes to reduction in the freedoom of any company in order to Maximize the profit etc.

References

Burch, D. and Lawrence, G., 2013. Financialization in agri-food supply chains: private equity and the transformation of the retail sector. Agriculture and human values, 30(2), pp.247-258.

Chkanikova, O. and Mont, O., 2015. Corporate supply chain responsibility: drivers and barriers for sustainable food retailing. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(2), pp.65-82.

Cullen, J.B. and Parboteeah, K.P., 2013. Multinational management. Cengage Learning.

Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.

Goworek, H., Fisher, T., Cooper, T., Woodward, S. and Hiller, A., 2012. The sustainable clothing market: an evaluation of potential strategies for UK retailers. International journal of retail & distribution management, 40(12), pp.935-955.

Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Avila, R.A., Schwepker Jr, C.H. and Williams, M.R., 2012. Sales management : Analysis and decision making. ME Sharpe.

Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. Routledge.

Schmiedel, H., Kostova, G.L. and Ruttenberg, W., 2012. The social and private costs of retail payment instruments: a European perspective.

Spaargaren, G., Oosterveer, P. and Loeber, A. eds., 2013. Food practices in transition: changing food consumption, retail and production in the age of reflexive modernity. Routledge.

Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.

Ulrich, P. and Sarasin, C. eds., 2012. Facing public interest: The ethical challenge to business policy and corporate communications (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.