According to the article, Honda, a Japanese car manufacturer is recalling 50,000 cars due to a fault with the door switch. Quoting from the article, “A faulty seal on a master switch in the driver’s door that controls the windows may cause liquid to seep inside, causing it to overheat and catch fire”.

It is fortunate that the company has noticed the problem before incidents could occur. As a result, the company has urged its customers who have already bought cars which are part of “second series of the CR-V made at the South Marston site between 2002 and 2006” to report them to dealers and get them fixed. In addition to this, a couple of customers have already reported to have smelled burning in their cars.

I think this development shows an example of how companies should work to protect their customers from dangers posed by faulty goods. Despite time and cost that Honda is going to incur by repairing the faulty part of so many cars, the company values first the safety of its customers and as a result, this would strengthen Honda’s brand value, also the trust the customers have for the company.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-19869616

According to the article, South African mine owner Amplats has fired 12,000 workers due to a protracted strike they did over wages. The company has recently been characterized by strikes which have resulted in violence in which miners and officials have lost their lives. The articles says that 75,000 miners are at present on strike in the gold and platinum sectors and due to that, the unemployment level which was already high (25%) in the country, is increasing significantly.

    The company is the world’s biggest platinum producer and if it has such serious problems, one could say that the relationship that exists between the leaders and the low income workers is appalling. If you take a look at other big companies such as Apple or JPMorgan Chase, you cannot think of them experiencing such a situation.

    Since all businesses should be run in an ethical manner, and mostly in way that allows creation of jobs, sustainable development and better standards of living for citizens, what could be the causes that lead to such considerable differences between companies in terms of how they deal with their employees to the extent that in some companies violence is used in resolving internal issues?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19848915

According to the article, Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive admits that his company was involved in phone hacking but denies he knew what was going on in his company saying that there was a cover-up but he was not aware of the despicable business practices his company was being involved into.

He may be able to save at least his name from being implicated in his company’s misbehavior; however, this scandal has negatively affected the company itself. Not only will the reputation and brand value of the company be tarnished, also other companies will avoid being too much associated with News Corporation in fear of losing the customer’s loyalty they have built with them for many years.

Personally, I think this is a huge scandal and that the owner of the company should not be the one giving excuses and trying to distance himself from the bad dealings and misconduct of his company. Whether he is aware or not, he should take full responsibility of what happens inside his company. As a CEO, it is of high priority for him to take business ethics seriously and if not, then, he does not deserve to lead the company.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/26/murdoch-admits-phone-hacking-coverup

In the article, HTC a Taiwanese manufacturer company of smartphones and tablets is said to have experienced a drop of 79% in profit for the third quarter. The drop is due to high competition put up by rivals Apple and Samsung.

During the July to September quarter, its net profit has dropped from NT$18.68bn a year earlier to NT$3.9bn ($133m; £83m) this year whist Samsung was anticipating record profits for the same quarter.

This drop in profit is high and definitely raises concerns in HTC. It seems that the company should revise its SWOT analysis and business strategy in order to come up with ways that can make it more competitive in the increasingly tough market especially when dealing with powerful rivals such as Apple and Samsung. One weakness that HTC seems to have is the lack of powerful innovations which seem to be the strength of its rivals.

Innovations are results of an excellent workforce and technology. Hence, to avoid its downfall, HTC should look on heavily investing on getting the right technology and employees to help it produce new model of electronics able to attract customers like Samsung’s Galaxy S3 and Apple’s iPhone5 have done earlier this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19879861