Today was interesting. We learnt about the fish bone diagram or Ishikawa diagram. It is the cause and effect diagram whereby the small issues are branching out from one main topic being discussed. Fish bone diagram is another useful tool to analyse any given situation besides the SWOT analysis. Cases when fish bone diagram can be used is when identifying possible causes for a problem or when a team’s thinking is not flowing.
This is a fish bone: HAHAHA
Here are examples of fish bone diagrams:
Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, is now known as a high record fine paying company and is feared by many as the company has lost its customers’ trust when it was legally sued for the promoting drugs for unapproved usage.
This is clearly seen when one of Pfizer’s units had been pushing doctors to prescribe an epilepsy drug called ‘neurontin’ for uses in which the Food and Drug Administration had never approved. The circumstances is even worse considering the fact that Pfizer broke its pledge of not practising off-label marketing when it repeat this offense right after this issue came up in the court. This clearly shows that Pfizer is unethical as it has violated the law and broke its pledge all just in the interest of selling more products.
Besides that, in the article of “Pfizer’s Ethics Violations Hurts All of Us”, it is clearly seen that Pfizer does not give priority to its consumers but instead are being typical profit maximizing company. As a result of Pfizer selling drugs for unapproved uses, people are suffering and dying whereas the managers of Pfizer are joyfully escalating the sales curves.
Though Pfizer had been charged and has paid heavy amount of sums that adds up to billions, the amount of profit the company gets from this usage of unapproved drugs is still relatively higher. What is the issue that bothers us is the question as to how are they willing to commit such a crime even though they know their deed will cause harm to their nation. However, they do face the consequence of this not only by having to pay large sum of fine, but also losing their consumers trust and public reputation of their company forever.Here’s more info on the article sources:
It was indeed very interesting to learn about business ethics. Business ethics is referred to as moral guidelines which govern good behavior and doing what is morally right. Businesses are obliged to follow acceptable conduct in business and should have a rough guideline or company policy on how managements make decision. They should decide how the firm is going to give back to the society and how they are going to carry out their social corporate responsibility.
Ethics are different from law. Ethics are about what is morally right and wrong whereas law is about what is lawful and unlawful. A firm that does not abide by the law will be charged in the court whereas a firm that is unethical would not face any legal consequences but will have a poor reputation among the consumers.
The in class reading focused on various ethical issues including having underage labor working for reputable firms like Apple and Nike and unsafe working condition in a mine in Congo. Another article said that a firm’s only social corporate responsibility is to increase its profits. All these articles debate well on the issue of business ethics.
As assignment, we were assigned to write a blog post on any business ethical issue. I read this article that caught my attention and it was about Pfizer, the drug and pharmaceutical company that allowed unauthorized drugs to be tested in the market.
Well, I missed the first week of class due to unsettled visa problems, and thus it was indeed overwhelming for me when I entered my first COMM101 class. The microphones, zoom-in screen, i-clicker, blog and pulse press was a little too much to handle all at a time but with guidance and observation, I manage to handle it and by the end of my first week, I got the hang of it! And the Profs, Tamar Milne and Robert Jackes and my lovely TA, Frankie are really nice and friendly, so that helped a lot.
Okay, thoughts and emotions aside, let’s get down to business. I learnt many things in my first class. The main discussion was about SWOT analysis and we did a group activity on it.
I have learnt that SWOT analysis is a very important tool in identifying a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to make strategic planning for the company.. Strengths and weaknesses depend on the company’s internal factors whereas opportunities and threats are caused by external factors which are out of the firm’s control. Examples of strengths are patents, strong brand names, good public reputations, cost efficient management and exclusive access to certain resources. Examples of weaknesses would be the exact opposite of the strengths such as weak brand names, bad public reputations, high cost and ineffective managements and no access to certain resources. Examples of opportunities are technology advancements, government subsidies and removal of international trade barriers, whereas examples of threats are government taxes, change of consumers’ taste and preference, availability of substitute goods and new trade regulations.
Here’s a well-explained video about what is SWOT analysis, and how to use this tool effectively to bring a company forward: SWOT analysis
So, I have finally set up n customized my blog, and now going to start blogging!:D Bonjour(hello!) to Sauderians taking COMM101!! We rock! <3
~Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores~