Assignment reportcourse business ethicstopic best buy fights against electronic waste

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY - - ASSIGNMENT REPORT Course: Business ethics Topic: Best Buy fights against Electronic Waste Name Class Supervisor : : International business management : Dr Nguyen Bich Ngoc Hà Nội - 2022 Table of contents Introduction…………………………………………………………… I CASE SUMMARY…………………………………………………… Best Buy history …………………………………………………… Visions……………………………………………………………… 2.1 Consumer Engagement…………………………………………… 2.2 Employees Engagement………………………………………… 2.3 Community Engagement………………………………………… Becoming more sustainable ………………………………………… Conserving energy one store at a time……………………………… Environemtal sustainability energy star products…………………… Combating E-waste…………………………………………………… Recycling program benefits………………………………………… Challenges for Best Buy……………………………………………… Corponate gorvernance challenges…………………………………… II QUESTIONS Why you think Best Buy has been able to gain competitive advantages in the retail electronics market while also driving many initiatives to support sustainability? Do you think the resources Best Buy dedicates to help the consumers recycle their old electronic devices represent a good investment for Best Buy Resources that Best Buy is dedicating to help consumers recycle their old electronic devices represent a good investment…… How Best Buy’s social responsibility efforts impact key stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, consumers, and suppliers……………………………………………………………… III CONCLUSION………………………………………………… REFERENCE ……………………………………… Page This is a preview Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 18 pages Access to all documents Get Unlimited Downloads Improve your grades Upload Share your documents to unlock Free Trial Get 30 days of free Premium Already Premium? Log in INTRODUCTION Best Buy Company is an organization that deals with supply of electronic materials; it is a company that is well known for supplying electronic materials and equipment globally because it has branches in most parts of the world The company is known because of its ability to provide satisfactory customer services, and this has been proved by the attributes the customers have about the services being provided in this company The company is therefore on the campaign against the waste of electronics It has initiated programs to ensure that they recycle electronic wastes The report describes the analysis of the company, and it therefore describes various aspects such as; ethical issues and corporate responsibility of the company which explains how the company plans to comply with the ethical issues that ensure good conduct in the business, the corporate responsibilities describe how the company has established a relationship between the stakeholders, employees and the customers in order to influence sustainability Consumer engagement shows how the company has established a good relationship with the consumers by providing them with the best customer services The customers are able to give attributes regarding the twenty-four hour services being provided by the company It has managed to engage consumers towards contributing to sustainability by providing them with information The company also engages the employees by influencing them on how to recycle electronic waste; this has helped the company to influence not only the employees but also other stakeholders and suppliers Community engagement explains how community participation has resulted in attaining the goal of sustainability and environmental conservation I CASE SUMMARY Best Buy History Early history The Best Buy Company Inc was founded by Richard M Schulze who was a specialist in consumer electronics and his partner in the year 1966 In 1966 he opened an Audio Specialty store in Twin cities with the name of ‘Sound of Music’ The business started flourishing, hitting $1 million in annual revenue by 1970 The stores basically aimed at college going students who wanted high end electronic goods But soon he realized that there was very little future ahead in this market with the target audience decreasing day by day In 1983, Schulze converted his Sound of Music stores into a high-volume discount Selling electronics, consumer appliances, videocassettes, and record He renamed this chain Best Buy Then, in 1984, Schulze took another major step by introducing the superstore format and quickly capturing 42 percent of the local market The changes Schulze implemented included eliminating the backrooms of stores and bringing all merchandise onto the sales door, paying salespeople hourly wages rather than commissions, and retraining salespeople to be more customer focused Acquisitions Best Buy embarked on acquisitions to increase its market share Extensive expansion Best Buy operates businesses in several countries outside the United States as well, including stores in Canada and Mexico While attempts to open Best Buy stores in China were unsuccessful, the company's subsidiary Jiangsu Five Star Appliance is thriving In 2009 the company opened its first stores based in the United Kingdom Today, Best Buy is a leading provider of consumer electronics with a presence in U.S., Canadian, British, Chinese, and Mexican markets Vision “People Technology And the pursuit of happiness.” This is the corporate vision Best Buy strives to achieve The company attempts to apply best practices in every facet of its operations To meet the needs of its customers, employees, vendors, and stockholders, Best Buy adopted a stakeholder orientation that focuses on quality relationships with these various groups The company feels happy employees and communities translate into happy customers The following sections are the initiatives Best Buy has implemented to fulfill its vision 2.1 Consumer Engagement Best Buy views itself as a customer-centered organization and aims to achieve better customer relationships - Best Buy encourages its customers to rate their experiences and products on www.BestBuy.com - The company invited customers to leadership meetings to gain a better outlook on their needs In this way, Best Buy hopes to create a better fit between the company and its customers - In 2007, electronic waste was rapidly accumulating in landfills, and society has become increasingly concerned with how to reduce this waste Best Buy answered this call through implementation of a wide-scale electronics recycling program - Its subsidiary, the Geek Squad, provides 24-hour service on-site, at home, or through the Internet Overall, Best Buy's customer satisfaction ratings display an upward trend in the past few years as the company's customer centered focus provides it with an advantage in the marketplace and enables it to grab market share This is a preview Do you want full access? 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Log in 2.2 Employee Engagement - Best Buy invests heavily in training its employees The company devoted 50,000 hours to employee training to teach employees about the newest features of the Windows product so employees could better assist customers in-store -Best Buy's corporate culture emphasizes listening to employees as well as customers Employees can post their thoughts on online forums such as the Watercooler and on an internal news site - Best Buy takes a stand on diversity training for its employees Every year it holds a Cultural Immersion program for its employees at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis It is Best Buy's goal to encourage employees to practice inclusion and awareness of different cultures - Finally, Best Buy offers a wide range of benefits for its employees Employees who work 32 hours at the retailer qualify for family health insurance, tuition assistance, and adoption assistance In addition to offering flexible programs, Best Buy allows those employees working at least 32 hours a week to reduce his or her hours or engage in job sharing as needed Due to its flexibility and benefits, Best Buy was awarded first place in Working Mother's 2012 Best Companies for Hourly Workers.) 2.3 Community Engagement Best Buy frequently engages stakeholders in communities where it operates, particularly in the areas of education and technology - TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOR TEENS: In 2012, Best Buy established a new program titled Best Buy Teen Tech Centers Here, teens go after school and explore the world of current and new technology The company is developing classes and online tutorials to be used in workshops at the centers with the help of Geek Squad In 2012 tech centers opened in Chicago, Miami, San Antonio, and St Paul/ Minneapolis - DISASTER RELIEF: Best Buy partners with disaster relief organizations to donate money and aid to hard-hit areas around the world Best Buy donated $200,000 for disaster relief in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010 In late 2012 Best Buy donated 1,000 disaster kits (batteries, flashlights, and chargers) through its partner, The Salvation Army, to provide connectivity in times of crisis Best Buy supports employees who live in areas affected by natural disasters If the Best Buy store in the area is forced to close, employees are paid until the store reopens or are given the opportunity to work at another Best Buy if the store remains closed Hotlines, counseling services, and employee assistance programs are available for employees impacted by natural disasters Becoming more sustainable Becoming more sustainable goes hand in hand with Best Buy's business model and strategy Best Buy incorporated eco-friendly practices into several facets of its operations from reduced energy consumption to recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) - Best Buy began selling electric bicycles and providing charging stations for Ford Motor Company's electric cars - Best Buy formed partnerships with other companies such as Energy Star to reduce its environmental footprint - Best Buy joined with SmartWay Transport to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Smart Way Transport is a collaboration between the Environmental Protection Agency and the freight industry with the goal of reducing waste and becoming more energy efficient This is a preview Do you want full access? 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Log in - Best Buy began to enforce ethical and sustainable practices among its vendors Suppliers must adhere to the company's Supplier Compliance Standards, and to ensure compliance, Best Buy audits its various suppliers each year Conserving energy one store at a time Realizing its stores consume large quantities of energy-some that could be conserved through more sustainable practices—Best Buy joined the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy (BICEP) in February 20109/10/2022 Best Buy improves lighting in its stores through skylights, prohibiting trucks from running their engines outside Best Buy locations investigating new energy-saving technologies such as virtual servers and surge protectors/power bars Additionally, in 2010 Best Buy created an everyday in-store recycling program in the U.S Environmental sustainability energy star products In addition to saving energy in its operations, Best Buy sells energy-saving products Best Buy's extensive partnership with Energy Star saves its customers money on energy costs and helps the environment by selling energy-efficient items Combating E-waste As the world moves toward sustainability, the issue of e-waste takes on an increased importance among consumers Best Buy then established its Best Buy Consumer Electronics Recycling Program Consumers drop off their used electronics and Best Buy recycles them Electronics over 32 inches in size used to cost $10 to recycle, although customers were given a $10 Best Buy gift card to replace the money spent on recycling them However, in late 2011 Best Buy eliminated this $10 fee This is a step toward Best Buy's goal to recycle billion pounds of e-waste by 2014 Other resources Best Buy uses in its large-scale recycling initiatives are its trade-in program, recycling kiosks near the stores (used to recycle small items including rechargeable batteries, cell phones, and ink cartridges), and TV and 10 appliance pickup service The trade-in program offers consumers two options: trading electronics online or in-store The trade-in system allows consumers to exchange an item and use the store credit to buy a newer model of a similar item In 2003 Best Buy became a member of the Environmental Protection Agency's Plug Into eCycling program that is committed to increasing consumer awareness about the importance of recycling Best Buy has partnered with various recycling companies, many that attempt to give used electronics a "second life” To ensure its partners are acting in a socially responsible manner, Best Buy monitors recyclers to make sure they follow safe recycling practices These partnerships serve to reduce pollution by keeping items out of landfills Recycling program benefits As Best Buy demonstrates, recycling can have positive implications for the business world as well For example, if a product like a cell phone can be fixed, it can be sent to outlets like eBay who can resell the product If not, the products are taken apart so the materials can be reused Best Buy splits the profit made from recycled products with its partners Recycling programs encourage manufacturers to take greater responsibility in product design For example, Dell began using fewer screws in its computers to make them easier to recycle Best Buy feels the connections developed between Best Buy and the community make the company's effort worth the cost) Best Buy hopes its status as a sustainable and ethical company attracts more loyal customers, aiding both its reputation and its bottom line 11 CHALLENGES FOR BEST BUY Best Buy faces intense competition from retailers such as Amazon and Apple It is more common for consumers to visit Best Buy stores, find items they want, and shop for those items on Amazon or other e-commerce sites at lower prices → Solution: Since the holiday season of 2012, Best Buy began a holidayprice matching policy that stated the company would match online prices in hopes to win consumers back Therefore, their stock price increased 95 percent in the next five months They also reduced their merchandise return policy from 30 days to 15 days Best Buy has sometimes struggled with delayed delivery services as well During the 2011 Christmas season, many products ordered at Thanksgiving were delayed and not delivered until after Christmas → Solution: Best Buy apologized to thousands of customers and experienced a dip in customer satisfaction ratings They also reduced their merchandise return policy from 30 days to 15 days Best Buy faces challenges in global markets The company's big-box retailers did not form well in the Chinese market, causing Best Buy to abandon its nine branded stores in that country Once again, price may have been a primary factor → Solution: While it is shutting down its branded stores, Best Buy has expanded its Chinese subsidiary Five Star which targets China’s middle class As China's economy pogresses, Best Buy is confident these stores will continue to profit CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES In April 2012, CEO Brian Dunn Brian Dunn was pressured to resign and was provided with a $6.6 million separation package after an internal investigation from the audit committee led to accusations, he violated company policy by having a close personal relationship with a female employee A supervisor of the employee informed the committee the employee's workplace behavior was impacted, thereby contributing to a negative work environment Even more distressing for Best Buy came the decision of founder Richard Schulze to step down from his position as Chairman after it was revealed he had knowledge of the relationship but he did not act according to good governance This is a preview Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 18 pages Access to all documents Get Unlimited Downloads Improve your grades Upload Share your documents to unlock Free Trial Get 30 days of free Premium Already Premium? Log in 12 practices This, along with continual declining sales, may have contributed to the decision II Questions Why you think Best Buy has been able to gain competitive advantages in the retail electronics market while also driving many initiatives to support sustainability? "People, technology and the pursuit of business" This is the vision of Best Buy From the analysis of the vision statement, we can see that the company is oriented towards providing the best services to the people by enabling them to embrace technology in a manner that is not harmful, this happens through ensuring that technology is user friendly to the people who embrace it Above all, the company is also geared towards success in business It has ensured there is a good relationship with the stakeholders, employees, customers and their suppliers Following were the initiatives taken by the Best Buy to improve their competitiveness by following sustainability measures: Extensive acquisition: To keep itself at par with the competition it started making acquisitions to increase the dimensions of the business and also to win more customers because it would be a one stop electronics retail house which would solve all the requirements of the customers This would also make the customers brand loyal Focus on customers: The company believed that the only way to get competitive advantage was to hear the voice of the customers so it invited customers in the decision making process It uses online forums and blogs to improve the communication with the customers so that they can address the customer’s problems Superior Service: Best Buy maintained 24 hours call centre service where the customers could get their problems solved any time, whenever there was any problem, the employees would get the computers repaired within a matter of hours instead of days take by their competition Speakeasy provided IT, broadband voice, and data services to the business customers of Best Buy Speakeasy technical people were always available to solve the problems of their business customers 13 Social Responsibility: In the case of Best Buy, it has been able to participate in many initiatives that have earned it a company image and good reputation The company strives to ensure sustainability through participating in environmental conservation, recycling of waste and engaging in community activities Through engaging in both communal and environmental activities, Best Buy has been able to attain competitive advantage because it is a form of compliance to the ethical and corporate responsibilities Do you think the resources Best Buy dedicates to help the consumers recycle their old electronic devices represent a good investment for Best Buy Electronic waste was a problem to all the stakeholders back then To solve that difficulty, Best Buy came up with an environmentally friendly program named “Greener Together”, in which customers can drop off their old electronics to be recycled by Best Buy Used electronics over 32 inches in size used to cost $10 to recycle Customers then were given the 10$ Best Buy gift card to buy some other electronic products from the company I would say thiss program represent a good investment for Best Buy The Gift cards were helpful in marketing research, and they could find out as to how effective the initiative is in gaining numerous customers In order to reach its goal of recycling billion pounds of e-waste by 2014, the company got rid of the $10 fee However, Best Buy still benefited from the used electronics If the electronics are recyclable, then the company will split the profit from selling the recycled products with its recycling partners On the others hand, the products which could not be recycled are sold to companies like eBay These initiatives by the company to invest the resources in recycling proved to be profitable in many aspects like reduced gas emissions, reduction in waste and energy efficiency etc With the help of these measures This gives a clear message to the public that the company is not only concerned about selling the products but also concerned about the electronic waste disposal and recycling of wastes More than anything the company is able to portray its ethical and environment friendly image to the public which would bring social acclaim, and this would fetch in more revenue and will help in improving the bottom line for the company The ethical and sustainable efforts made by Best Buy helped it get listed in Ethisphere’s 2010 most ethical companies How Best Buy’s social responsibility efforts impact key stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, consumers, and suppliers? Consumers 14 Under the Best Buy CEO by the name Brian Dunn, the vision of the company towards best service to its customers has been achieved When it comes to customer satisfaction in this company, we learn that there is full teamwork that ensures customers go home while happy The company has invested in various ways of providing customer satisfaction One of the means is ensuring that the customer service providers listen to the customer needs and complaints This has been a key aspect that has gained the company substantial profits and maintaining an image The views of customers are taken into consideration and, therefore, the ability to attain customer loyalty From the case study, we can learn from the year when the company published a corporate social responsibility from which the customers' demands were considered The company also invites its customers to conferences where they can participate and give their attributes towards the services of the company It has also managed to create a website where customers login on and get a chance to rate their attributes and views on the company service provision A twenty four hour service has also been enabled in the company whereby customers can be attended to from the internet This is a strategy that has added value to the customer engagement in the company and has enabled the company to rise above other electronic companies It is obvious that customers are the main component of any business because they form the basis of profit making Direct customer service through delivery and repair of electronics has also been achieved in this company whereby customers who need electronic supplies to replace the old ones are providing the after sales service by delivering them to their places The company has been able to achieve this by enabling the use of company cars to provide services to their customers This involves speeding repairs on electronic faults and ensuring an active connection between the customers and the staff using information technology Shareholders The social responsibility initiatives adopted by Best Buy such as recycling of old electronics increases its reputation in the eyes of the customers which generates more revenue through higher sales This enables the shareholders to benefit through higher profit share Employees Employees make the most important component of any business because they ensure that the implementations of strategies that orient towards achieving This is a preview Do you want full access? 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Log in 15 the mission are met Best Buy has managed to form an integral contribution from their employees The company ensures employee engagement towards successful customer care services; this has been done through employing employees who are dedicated and talented in their operations The company has enabled employee interactions by ensuring that they work together as a team and designing a compensation system that motivates their employees The contribution of employees towards the success of the business comes in the form of attributes that the customers say about the products and service provisions These employees have been trained to comply with the ethics of the organization and thus are able to conduct their operations in a manner that results in positive change Their dedication towards delivery of their service is accompanied by their passion for achieving the goals of the company The company has a competent human resource manager who has contributed towards the success of Best Buy It has invested in enabling sufficient communication all around the company which is a great step towards achieving employee engagement towards attaining the vision strategy It is obvious that good communication results in transparency and sharing of ideas, it also ensures the flow of information among employees who will at the end result perform their operations with regard to the information communicated (Sims, 2003) Good leadership has also influenced the employees of this company to work in one direction and this has been proved by their harmony in their operations Employee networks are encouraged in Best Buy whereby the employees are enlightened towards leadership and participation in skills development This is a strategy that has enabled the success of the implementation process The aim of encouraging participation is to enhance the experience of the employees and sensitize gender participation as well The company also takes place in diversity training of employees, and this has contributed towards better knowledge development and motivation to the staff When it comes to organization structure, a decentralized system of the structure has been adopted in the organization to ensure maximum flexibility of employees This has made it easier for the company to integrate the use of technology in managing operations and also the employees are able to perform their operations in a transparent manner The work approach systems used by Best Buy are the open-source approach and the ROWE system Such an opportunity inspires them to create innovations like the development in packaging of HDMI cables that reduced consumption of plastic used in the packaging by 30% Every year Best Buy 16 holds a Cultural Immersion program for its employees where they encourage employees to practice inclusion and awareness of different cultures Suppliers Best Buy promotes sustainable and ethical practices among its vendors Suppliers have to adhere to the compliance standards of the company which is audited annually by Besn the annual audit, if any supplier is found not to be adhering to the compliance standards that are set by the company, the company cancels the contracts with the supplier In response to the demands made by the consumers, the company started publishing its Corporate Social Responsibility Reports from 2007, facilitating the consumers to know the actions taken by the company to address the sustainability issue In programs such as @15 teenage customers which formed a major portion of their customers could interact and find out the innovative ways which could be used by the company, they could share their thoughts on a website called www.at15.com It also provided education and scholarship programs where they offered scholarships worth $9.5 million since it was implemented in 2006 It aimed at using technology to make the students learn Under the disaster relief program, the company offered huge packages for the relief in the affected areas, it even helped employees staying in disaster affected areas III Conclusion From the case study, we can come up with a conclusion that it is important for a company to always comply with the ethical and corporate responsibilities This is seen from the fact that the company has been able to remain the best company that supplies electronic equipment It also engages in environmental and energy conservation by recycling electronic waste The company has been seen to participate in many initiatives to combat sustainability When a company participates in community development by contributing their efforts to help sustain the nearby community, it is a great step towards building an image of the company together with sustaining the customers Environmental conservation comes in the form of energy saving and recycling of waste This is a strategy that has been achieved by the company because it has initiated programs for enabling customers, stakeholders, and employees to be able to acquire information for the recycling of electronic waste The company also has established a good record of customer service 17 because it is well known for providing satisfactory customer services to its consumers A case study reflects how companies should conduct their activities by setting out strategies that result in customer satisfaction, environmental conservation, employee engagement, community engagement and combating sustainability Companies should, therefore, embrace the ethical issues and corporate responsibilities by conducting an environmental scanning to determine their immediate competitors, their customers and other aspects forming the external environment and, therefore, perform their operations while considering these aspects REFERENCE Fraedrich, J (2014) Business ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases "Our Foundation."( August 13, 2010) Best Buy "From coast to coast, more people recycle their Electronics with Best Buy than any other Retailer." (April 14,201), http://www.bby.com Johnson (2013) Zero waste home: The ultimate guide to simplifying your life by recycling waste Simon and Schuster “Best Buy Co SuccessStory” ( August, 2014), https://successstory.com/companies/best-buy-co “Best Buy Co Inc” (April 17, 2021), Encyclopedia.com Peter, D (2013) Eco-Business: A big-brand takeover of sustainability MIT press Best Buy, Annual Sustainability report Fiscal (2010), http://www.bby.com/cmn/files/Best-Buy This is a preview Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 18 pages Access to all documents Get Unlimited Downloads Improve your grades Upload Share your documents to unlock Free Trial Get 30 days of free Premium Already Premium? Log in 18