Skip to main content

Comparison between two retail companies picked are Walmart and Costco

The two retail companies picked are Walmart and Costco whose 2017 Financial statement links are provided below: WALMART https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ wmt/financials?query=income- statement COSTCO https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ cost/financials?query=income- statement Both organizations are well known brands and position themselves well with their customer base. Walmart’s value proposition is “We save people money so they can live better”. On the other hand, Costco’s value proposition is “All-in-one convenience and everyday affordability”. Both retailers focus on cost saving for their customers. Looking at their financial statements and by analyzing them a few key areas are evident when comparing the two organization. Looking at the current ratio and quick ratio we can determine the short-term solvency of each organization. The current ratio can be determined by dividing the assets by the liabilities. Walmart’s current ratio sits at 0.86 while Costco’s sits at 0.99. The quick ratio is c...
1 comment

In 1887 Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. What do you believe he meant by this statement?


The topic of power is of great interest to me - and I have known Lord Acton’s statement for a while. The meaning of his statement can be interpreted in different ways. One of them is that anyone who holds an absolute power is inevitably destined to be corrupt and will misuse his power to further unethical deeds. That is the extreme interpretation and only one side of the coin.

To understand the second, the less extreme meaning, we shall explore the context in which Lord Acton wrote this particular statement: it was in 1887, in a letter to Archbishop of the Church of England Mandell Creighton. In the letter, Lord Acton complained about the corrupt Church and how the Pope abuses its power. (Dalberg, 1887)


In this light, it is not a universal claim about humanity, but a very specific critique of a specific religious group that, quite frankly, was guilty of such charges at the time.

Lord Acton wrote his letter in an emotional streak as a response to Archbishop’s loyalist defensive claims. I believe if we asked Lord Acton about the meaning of his words today, he wouldn’t insist that it applies to humanity universally.


And that is also my opinion. The statement is not always true, but merely applies to the people that are morally prone to corruption. I would dare to fix the statement to: “The power magnifies any moral virtues that a person already has.” The morally bad person will go further into evil demeanor, while an altruistic and empathetic person will use the power to make good deeds. That is not only my opinion, but also a scientifically proven fact. DeCelles et al. sum it up perfectly: "The power does not corrupt a moral identity, but it merely helps the identity to emerge.”  (DeCelles et al. 2012)


In a practical organization management, it means that before promoting a person to a powerful position, we should consider his proneness to become corrupt by evaluiating his oral standards.  But the hard part is - what if an otherwise perfect candidate show signs of moral lability? Should we still hire / promote him to power just because he is a perfect fit for the job?


And what are the ways a leader can keep him or herself from being corrupted by the power that he/she is entrusted with? Based on the findings above, I'm afraid we cannot prevent every leader from being corrupt - those who are ill-intended will become corrupt with more power. We should focus more on selecting the right - morally good candidate in the first place.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A trip to TAKI, West Bengal , India

                                   As Bangldesh looks on the bank of Ichamoti, from TAKI, West Bengal. Take a closed look, a cattle corpse i s floating on the river bed, near the Bangladeshi bank. Victim of transborder cattle smuggling. I am not sure how young generation would react to the name of yester year’s one of the most popular writer portraying the essence of rural Bengal, its pains and joys, prosperity and poverty and off course the thread of society; Bibhuti Bhusan Bandopadhyay. His simplicity was eminent in is writing; that was best projected by famous film director Satyojit Roy in his internationally acclaimed films like ‘Pother Panchali’, ‘Aparajito’ et el.  At the age of 9, I read ‘Pother Panchali’. Though I was not matured, enough to comprehend its intrinsic message of the content but the very story left a pugmark in my mind. I became more interested about the author later. ...
29 comments
Read more

If you were assigned to sell a product called “Sweet Treats” with the slogan, “so sweet, it will make you tweet,” but you thought the product tasted sour, and not at all sweet, what would you do?

Often, celebrities contract to endorse a product, but should they use the product regularly, or even like the product before they are allowed to claim that they “endorse” the product? If celebrity is lying, that is endorsing a product he/she does not use/consume then the ad should be pulled.  The Federal Trade Commission requirement that ads or sponsored social media posts indicate so - is not enough to inform consumers. (Robert, 2017) So, yes, a celebrity who endorses a product should at least appear in public using the product. Examples go in the opposite direction, instead of claiming to use a product but not doing so, which would be lying, the Kardashians post product endorsements across several social media platforms either without disclosing it is an ad or waiting until hours or days after the initial post to do so. According to the the organization Truth in Advertising (TINA.org) The delay allows avid followers to see the initial post as a testimonial instead of as an ad. (K...
Post a Comment
Read more

TATA SKY OR TATA SQUEEZE!!

This is my debut article in the interest of Indian consumers. Just my humble contribution; to enlighten them about the product or service of famous TATA SKY. Amir Khan, the brand ambassador or Mr. Ratan Tata, the person at the helm of all TATA affairs, would be ashamed of TATA SKY, once they know instead of making the life “JINA LALA”; it is turning the life “JINA HARAM” with TATA SKY at times. With much expectation I switch over to TATA SKY from local cable operator in the month of May this year. Within six months twice I they have replaced their set top box. They went out of order and it is under warranty for one year. Every time I called their customer care, they receive they call as if your are naïve. They take no less than half an hour, to guide you to switch off and on , take out their digi-card and put it back, whether you are young or old caring a fig for that! Surprisingly their call centre’s number is not toll free! You are put on hold for ten minutes and another twenty m...
23 comments
Read more