“We realized, only after reaching the edge of crisis, that our practices related to NATURE need to be sustainable. Otherwise, we’ll have to find another planet.” BUSINESSESS ARE IN A SIMILAR CRISES. Can Business Practices Become Sustainable?
Do we realize that the way of doing business is getting less and less sustainable? In a connected world, the unsustainable practices have spread to all corners of the world. Those employing such practices can now sell to everyone globally. The unfair advantage gained by such practices forces others to do the same to stay competitive.
Fewer jobs, rampant retrenchment, low salaries, and unlawful activities are only a few of the results of this. The gap between business earnings and salary earnings is growing. This isn’t sustainable for long. Sellers will not have a market to sell to. Economies will collapse.
Some blatant wrongdoing by big brands:
- Volkswagen (Automobiles) tweaked their diesel engine software to pass pollution emission tests. The pollutants were 40 times more in actual vehicles.
- Two new Boeing (Aircrafts) planes crashed, killing 346. They added a software to control the plane without letting the pilots know about it. This was done only to meet customer demands of the new model requiring no additional training compared to the previous model.
- Olympus (Opticals and Medical) cooked up their accounting books to cover up losses from bad investments. When it became public, their stocks crashed, and 2700 employees lost their jobs.
- Wells Fargo (Bank) sales personnel created millions of bank accounts on behalf of their clients, without their consent, to meet internal sales targets. Customers were being charged huge amounts in fees for things they didn’t sign up for. The bank was fined millions and faces further suits worth billions of dollars.
Recent research of Institute of Customer Service shows that customer satisfaction is down across nearly every major industry sector in the UK. This is mostly due to sudden move of companies to automation (such as Chatbots) from human contact centers (call-centers). 30% customers leave a brand after a bad experience with a Chatbot. Yet, the greed of profits keeps the leaders blinded. This also has led to big loss of jobs. Who actually gained?
What do you think are other unsustainable business practices?
Can we define sustainable practices and get businesses to pledge for them?
Share your thoughts in the comments below. Or write to us.