Page 141 - Introduction to Business

CHAPTER 3 Business Governance, Ethics, and Social Responsibility 115

to increasing diversity among the distributors of their products. DaimlerChrysler
Corporation, for example, started a major minority dealership program in 1983
designed to increase the number of minority-owned dealerships selling its prod-
ucts. Today, an increasing number of DaimlerChrysler dealerships are minority-
owned, including such dealerships as Fullerton Dodge in Fullerton, California;
Cross Road Chrysler Jeep in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Rainier Dodge in
Olympia, Washington.

Customers
Customers are an extremely important stakeholder group for corporations. Obvi-
ously, a company that does not treat its customers properly will ultimately lose their
trust and their business. If customers stop purchasing (and indeed repurchasing)
the company’s products, the company’s existence will clearly be in question.
Customer, or consumer, stakeholders are very concerned about both product
quality and product safety, and companies are increasingly making major efforts to
address these concerns. Nordstrom’s, for example, has built a reputation for very
high-quality apparel and very good customer service. Its employees go out of their
way to help customers find merchandise, and they make returning or exchanging
merchandise very easy. The company is committed to the simple idea of earning
the trust of its customers “one at a time.” 29
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is another company known for its high-quality prod-
ucts, and especially for its high commitment to consumer safety. In 1982, someone
spiked Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules with cyanide, causing seven deaths in the
Chicago, Illinois, area and widespread panic throughout the country. J&J, which
makes the popular painkiller, immediately pulled all Tylenol capsules from retailer
shelves and alerted consumers across the country not to use any Tylenol product.
The company then immediately designed new tamper-resistant, triple-seal pack-
ages. Although having to take a $100 million charge against earnings because of the
Tylenol incident, J&J did not point any accusatory finger elsewhere (e.g., at the
stores where the product was sold for improper monitoring). By acting forcefully
and calmly to protect consumer safety, J&J eventually regained its share of the anal-
gesic market. 30
Today, many companies have extensive consumer education programs that
emphasize product usage and safety. General Motors has been a leader in this
regard. Such special efforts on behalf of customers involve businesses taking a
stakeholder perspective toward this important constituency group.

Employees
In today’s knowledge economy, especially, where in many industries, like computer
software development, the employees themselves are the actual means of produc-
tion, employees can be a very special stakeholder group. Many companies today
make special efforts to have a strong two-way relationship with their employees,
seeking input from them regarding the running of the business and helping them
develop their careers. Nordstrom’s, for example, forthrightly states that “our com-
pany is our people,” and that it is “dedicated to hiring outstanding individuals and
empowering them to unlock their talent and creativity.” 31
In some countries in the world, like Germany, employee input is mandated by
law. Under that country’s codetermination law, the boards of directors, or supervi-
sory boards, of all major corporations must include significant employee represen-
tation.

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