Robert Bartlome

BUS 1050-404
01/12/2014
Essay 3
Generation of Profits vs. Meeting Customer Needs

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Generation of Profits vs. Meeting Customer Needs
In our capitalistic society, businesses and individuals are encouraged to seek a profit. That is
what drives our economy. However, in their quest for profit, many businesses and individuals
participate in questionable activities which may be deemed by some as immoral, unethical, and/or
dishonest. These activities often hurt other people, whether physically, financially, or otherwise. There
has been much debate over what rules and guidelines should be followed in order to prevent unfair and
unsafe business transactions. Here I add my voice in defining how far a vendor should go in seeking a
profit as I talk about the debate between generating profits and meeting customers needs. Vendors
should be allowed to seek profit to every extent unless it impedes the rights of customers.
Individuals have an inalienable right to health. Profit should never be sought if one or more
individuals health would be negatively affected. Men are rapidly coming to see that human life is of
infinitely greater value than material wealth; that the health, happiness, and well-being of the
individual, however humble, is not to be sacrificed to the selfish aggrandizement of the more fortunate
or more powerful (Rockefeller).
For example, food industries are legally responsible to ensure that their food is sanitary and safe
to eat. While working at Arctic Circle in 2008-2010, I witnessed what must have totaled hundreds and
hundreds of dollars worth of food waste simply because the food was older than the age that health
codes permitted to be served. Upon inspection, the manager could have decided that the food was still
healthy and ordered it to be served. This habit would have saved hundreds of dollars. However, human
error in those judgments would have needlessly caused at least some unhealthy food to be served, and
unsuspecting customers would be the victims of food-borne illnesses. It may seem expedient at times
to serve outdated food in order to save cost or to meet the customers needs to compensate for
inventory shortages, but what is morally wrong can never be expedient (Cicero). Any vendor has a
duty to ensure that he is not selling products that will harm the customers health.

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Another right that individuals have is honest and fair treatment in business transactions. Here
there are responsibilities on both sides of any business transaction: for the vendor and for the customer.
Among a vendors responsibilities is that he should never give misleading or false information to a
customer. For example: Suppose an air-conditioning company has an order for an AC unit of a certain
brand. They realize that theyre out of that brand and wont receive a supply for another three days.
But they have an AC unit of a different brand with almost the exact same ratings that performs the same
functions. Its cheaper anyway, and they suspect that the customer will likely never know the
difference. They agreed with the customer to have it installed the next day, and their policy is that a
late installation will merit a discount. So in order for them to meet the customers needs with their
current agreement without losing money, they agree that they would need to put in the cheaper one.
In this example, it may be true that the customer would likely never know the difference.
However, despite a desire to retain profit for the business, putting in the cheaper AC unit would be lying
to the customer and thus cheating him of his legal right to what he signed for. Concealment consists in
trying for your own profit to keep others from finding out something that you know, when it is for their
interest to know it (Cicero). A vendor has every right to do all he can to generate profit, as long as he
provides the means for the customer to know exactly what hes getting.
Just as important as the vendors responsibility to be honest in disclosing information about the
product is the customers responsibility to understand the information. I believe it is perfectly honest
for a vendor to withhold information about the product verbally if he provides it in writing and asks the
customer to sign the agreement. In such a case, the vendor would be meeting the customers needs,
and the responsibility would lie solely on the customer for any misunderstanding of what hes receiving.
Another point to consider in the debate between generating profits and meeting customer
needs is to what extent a vendor may conserve resources by withholding them from the customer. To
illustrate this point I turn to another example from my experience while working at Arctic Circle. The

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company was advertising pound ice cream cone, which equals four ounces. My manager realized that
many of us were serving cones up to six ounces, 50% bigger than they were advertised at. In one of our
meetings, she instructed us to make sure our cones were exactly four ounces. We were to weigh them
every time until we were sure they came out at four ounces every time. In serving the bigger cones, we
were exceeding our expectations to meet the customers needs. But to save money and therefore to
generate more profit, we were instructed to give the customers no more than what was advertised.
And even though some of the customers complained that the cone seemed really small, the company
was meeting the customers needs by giving them exactly what they had agreed to by advertisement.
As a general rule, give closest attention to even the smallest details (Saikaku).
Now, suppose the manager or one of the employees, in their zeal to save money, had started
serving cones that weighed less than four ounces. Then the customer would be getting less than what
was advertised, or agreed upon. And even though the company would be saving more money and thus
earning a better profit, that profit would be gained only by sacrificing an honest deal, and therefore
would not have been morally correct.
In these three points that is, the customers right to health, his right to an honest sale, and the
vendors right to conserve resources there are laws protecting these rights and privileges. Ideally, I
think that laws should not need to guide business transactions. If all men were honest men, not only
seeking personal profit but also actively upholding the rights of those around them, then laws would be
unnecessary. However, there will inevitably be vendors whose drive for profit exceeds their desire to be
fair to their customers. As such, I think it is essential to enforce laws which protect those rights.
In conclusion, what I have learned through experience and consideration is this: as long as
vendors meet the customers needs by respecting their rights, disclosing information about the product,
and fulfilling all agreements of sale, they have the right to seek profit in any way.

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Works Cited
Cicero. "De Officiis." Boardman, Calvin M, Alan N Sandomir and Harris Sondak. Foundations of Business
Thought. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2013. 247-249. Textbook.
Rockefeller, John D. Jr. "The Personal Relation In Industry." Boardman, Calvin M, Alan N Sandomir and
Harris Sondak. Foundations of Business Thought. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2013. 218.
Textbook.
Saikaku, Ihara. "The Eternal Storehouse of Japan [Nippon Eitaigura]." Boardman, Calvin M, Alan N
Sandomir and Harris Sondak. Foundations of Business Thought. Upper Saddle River: Prentice
Hall, 2013. 326. Textbook.