Dr. Lwanga Martin Mwanje
Kimbowa had an eye for business. One day while driving down a highway he spotted a corner which he immediately suspected would be good for a petrol station. Being a man of action he quickly went to his bank which loaned him the money he used to raise one.
And just as he had suspected business boomed.
However, no sooner had he started to enjoy the fruits of his investment, than he saw someone constructing what appeared like another petrol station across the road. Indeed it was; and this one came with an eating joint and neat bathrooms. Partly for this, this steered away customers in favor of the new station. Kimbowa started defaulting on his loan payment. Then one day one of his pump attendants gave him a bright idea.
“Sir,” said the pump attendant. “We can beat off this competition by selling a liter at a price lower than this rival.”
“But how will we ever make money!” Kimbowa asked.
“There is a way you can fix the pump stations to supply less fuel from the price indicated,” advised the pump attendant. “We shall be selling customers air but they will go away happy.”
Kimbowa embraced the idea. Initially his business lured more customers, enticed by the lower prices. His competitor responded by modernizing his station, adding things like wi-fi at the eatery. The competition was fierce. Then some of Kimbowa’s more loyal customers started noticing something. Whenever they had fuel from his competitor they enjoyed a longer mileage run. Soon, one by one, they started moving to his rival, leaving Kimbowa with largely boda boda riders eager to save a few shillings without buying in bulk.
Kimbowa’s pump attendant had since been demanding a commission for his idea. But when he was told his tricks had failed to make the business break even, he quit in anger. He then started going around telling people how “we used to fix that pump station at lower the selling price.” When word got around even casual customers stopped dropping by. Ultimately Kimbowa’s petrol station suffering from loss of customers closed.
Many business and organizations deal with issues of ethics. For some the main driver as we see here is beating competition. However, there are also cases where the main motivation would be greed. This could feature in say a jelly manufacturing business that uses less costly but dangerous chemicals for purposes of making more money. A juice manufacturer may use sweeteners that are deemed harmful but help generate more demand for the product.
Ethical malpractices can affect human resources. In staff administration the organization could be deducting staff pay to meet statutory obligations only to divert the money for other private functions. There are organizations than can sell positions to the less qualified, while putting up fake interviews.
As we see for Kimbowa’s petrol station, his decision to get involved in ethical malpractice, though seemingly helpful in the short run ultimately ruined his business. From large organizations such as Anderson Coopers, a global accounting firm that was found engaged in fraud and forced to shut down; to schools that dabble in examination fraud, only for their licenses to be withdrawn, it is never advisable for business to engage in ethical malpractices.
If one has an eye for a building a sustainable business or organization the best way is to invest in good solid business practices. These, while appearing more costly, will in the long run help develop a lasting and credible organization with a profitable brand
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