Small Business In Small Towns example essay topic

374 words
When does a business cross the line from making a profit to stealing a profit? That is a hard line to gauge. Laws are designed to make that line a little clearer but laws can't out think the mind of man. If a way can be thought of to make money it already has been or is being thought of.

It's where people are taken advantage of that we need to worry. There are many business in place that simply prey on the people who don't know any better. Whether its the feature on Prime-Time that shows elderly people tricked into phony home repairs or the local business that offered a friend of mine a computer at an inflated price with an outrageous financing plan, some business practices are unethical. What I will focus on is not clearly right or the clearly wrong but that vast amount of items that are in the middle. Looking at more of a gray area, Wal-Mart is generally viewed as an ethical company but even they have a reputation for unfair competition. Wal-Mart has a marketing plan that targets smaller cities with large- volume discount stores.

While this may not appear to be unfair on its face, many people have felt its negative effect. When Wal-Mart moves into a market, many of its smaller competitors go out of business. Small business in small towns can't compete with the prices, availability, or selection of a huge conglomerate like Wal-Mart. People in the towns don't have much of a choice. Pay more for less or pay less for more? Not a hard decision.

But the ultimate effect is that many small businesses can't survive the competition. Is that ethically wrong? That is a very hard call to make. For retailers, an ethical culture is essential to preserving the customer trust that has enabled the industry to flourish.

Implementing this ideal, however, is becoming more of a challenge today than in years past. Most people want to do the right thing, but the changes sweeping through the industry create situations where it isn't always clear what the right thing is.