A. How could Jeff's attitude toward social responsibility impact Perry's
strategy? Justify your rationale with support from course materials.
Jeff’s attitude is likely to inform a strategy that is geared toward ‘saving
face.’ Jeff confessed that he does not care about any of the measures
implemented by Donovan but since the management demands it, they
should do something about it. In this view, it appears that Jeff’s attitude is
informed by his moral reasoning and moral development, which is the
preconventional level (The Saylor Foundation, 2014, p, 322). Similar to Jeff,
people in the preconventional stage of moral development worry about
being caught, and their sense of right or wrong is determined by the nature
of the rewards they get. Therefore, it is likely that Perry will adopt a ‘good
enough’ social responsibility strategy to avoid being judged harshly by
consumers.
B. Should Perry's Printing respond to this new strategic plan published by
their competitor? Why or why not? Justify your opinion with support from
course materials.
In a perfect world, Perry should not respond to their competitor's actions
because they have already implemented a majority of those actions
without making them public. As such, Perry was guided by stage 6 of moral
reasoning and followed universal ethical principles to adopt sustainable
measures not because they would be caught or rewarded, but because it
was the right thing to do (The Saylor Foundation, 2014, p, 322). However,
the business environment can be cruel, and failure to communicate what
an organization is doing to become sustainable could be interpreted as
unwillingness. Therefore, Perry should respond and inform consumers they
had implemented similar measures long ago because of their commitment
to sustainability. That would ensure Perry is not viewed in a bad light by
consumers.
C. Porter identified one of the most commonly accepted definitions of
strategy as "choosing a unique and valuable position, rooted in systems of
activities that are difficult to match." In other words, differentiation is the
key to strategy. If all competitors are choosing sustainability as part of
their processes, can sustainability really be a strategy? Support youropinion
with course materials.
Yes, sustainability could be a strategy even though all competitors have
adopted sustainability as part of their processes. Sustainability
encompasses a wide array of things, including innovation to develop better
and more competitive products. In an interview with McKinsey Podcast,
David Crafoord explained that sustainability is not a rigid process but
rather an approach that puts consumers and the environment at the
forefront of business decisions, thus enabling organizations to stimulate
radical innovation and improve customer experience (McKinsey &
Company, 2017, para 22). As such, all competitors could adopt
sustainability as a strategy, but their products would be different hence
achieving differentiation.
References
The Saylor Foundation. (2014). Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility.
In The Saylor Foundation. (Eds).Leading an Ethical Organization: Corporate
Governance, Corporate Ethics, and Social Responsibility. (pp 322-327).
https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/dam/equella-
content/bmgt495/Chapter10_Leading_EthicalOrganization.pdf
McKinsey & Company. (2017, July 25). Creating value through sustainable
design. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-
insights/creating-value-through-sustainable-design#
