An interesting thing happened in the world of company policies today. Virgin Group’s Founder, Sir Richard Branson unveiled of a company wide policy allowing employees to take an ‘unlimited holiday’[1], meaning that employees are free to take as many days off in a year as they like, provided they are up to date with all their work. The idea, Branson admits, came from silicone valley giants like Apple and Google, where offices and corporate culture focus to make work, less like work by providing employees with services and amenities. The move hopes to encourage and develop a relationship of trust between the company and the employees, making the workplace more casual and less restrictive.[2]

This is an interesting corporate policy strategy because it changes the established company-employee paradigm at Virgin, making employees more focused on achievement and efficiency rather than just being at work because they have to. I think that this is a smart move on the part of Virgin because it will not only attract prospective employees to Virgin but also encourage current employees to work more efficiently so that they can take more time off work thus providing Virgin with a competitive edge because of increased efficiency.

[1] Perkins, Anne. “Richard Branson’s ‘unlimited Holiday’ Sounds Great – until You Think about It.” The Guardian. Theguardian.com, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

[2]Prynne, Miranda. “Why Richard Branson Allows Employees To Take Unlimited Holiday Leave.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, unveils the iPhone 6 to a packed house at Apple’s September 9th event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

With apples much anticipated release of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, many consumers –including myself – are left unimpressed[1] with Apple’s recent entries into the consumer electronics market[2]. The name Apple has long since been synonymous with innovation, quality, and unparalleled user experience however, after the death of Apple’s longtime CEO and founder Steve Jobs the company seems to have lost the focus that made its products so desirable, and the brand so enviable by its competitors.[3] The sudden shift in company focus is evident in apples attempts to ‘fit the market’, something that it never did before. Take Apples unveiling of products such as the iPad Mini and iPhone 5C that targeted the lower price range and open apple up to a larger pool of potential consumers.  For me this really contradicted the image that apple had spent years prior trying to cultivate and maintain, one ultimately of luxury and exclusivity. What I mean by exclusivity is that Apple would, as it did with the original iPhone, all the way up the to the iPhone 5, was release only one technically innovative and new product for an entire market. And because apples products where for the most part, superior to anything else available, consumers would pay the premium price, even if they didn’t come in a specific color, screen size, or with particular features that were offered by its competitors. As you can see now, Apples focus has shifted to creating a variety of products that fit the market and the company has grown content with advancing the same thing[4]. Instead of doing one thing amazing, reaching for the next breakthrough in hardware or software, Apple now focuses on doing four or five things well; simply updating rather than innovating.[5]

[1] https://sg.news.yahoo.com/consumers-not-impressed-apple-watch-163519457.html

[2] https://sg.news.yahoo.com/consumers-not-impressed-apple-watch-163519457.html

[3] http://www.cnbc.com/id/101087596#.

[4] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/16/iphone5s-apple-given-up-innovation

[5] http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/04/18/7-reasons-apple-is-more-doomed-than-you-think/

In business the pressure of competition often leads to unethical oversights in product production. For example, consider the 1997 Ford Pinto case in which over 180 people died or were seriously injured in car accidents due to an executive decision to forgo fixing the cars faulty gas tank in order to beat other competitors to market. These careless decisions that put people in danger violate the intangible consumer-producer relationship in which, the consumer trusts that the producer has produced a product that is above all safe and of quality manufacturing.

To often in our highly competitive global market place companies compromise their ethical integrity in order to cut corners and save costs. Consider the appalling example of the April 23rd 2013 Savar factory collapse, in which 1129 workers were killed. This example highlights two areas of unethical business practices: The first being the application of sweatshop labor in order to cut costs and increase competition in the market, and the second being the equally unethical way in which transnational corporations take advantage of small, economically frail countries. Again, these unethical practices violate the consumer-producer contract putting lives at risk in order to cut costs and increase profits.