A Manager’s Ethical Dilemma
Adam Oliver
Business Ethics for Leaders (BSAD460-E1WW)
September 11, 2017
Sears, Roebuck, and Co. really did a number on their once loyal customers trust in them. By completely switching their approach as a business from a trusted, long standing customer first company to something that isn’t them. They were trying to compete with the Wal-Mart’s of this world and Sears was never Wal-Mart. The management all but incentivized their employees to cut corners and be dishonest to customers to push sales.
Background
Sears, Roebuck, and Co. started small just selling farm equipment and made themselves a household name in just 30-40 years of catalog sales. This was so successful that they were able to start opening retail stores by the mid 1920’s with the increases in transportation and the population moving more towards factory work. The success of the company allowed them to diversify into insurance, real estate, securities
…show more content…
Trusting and loyal customers are eventually spurned by over paying for work shoddy work they didn’t need and no longer return to the store. What’s worse, they’ll be vocal about it hurting your word of mouth advertising. Management who implemented this strategy has lost the respect of their employees or at least a majority of them, and if the whole thing comes to a head they could be out of a job for a long time. The shareholders could experience a revenue and profit rebound so a rise in share value is a positive initially, but again the entire picture isn’t public just yet. I think sticking to who they have always been with maybe applying some friendlier, honest pricing options would have been a better angle. Sears should have been preaching their honesty to customers to give them an edge on competitors, not playing the opposite game while customers assumed they were still the same