The 4 Business Essentials
– Musings of Dr. Jamie Hsu, 5.8.2017
The recent incident of United Airline’s treatment of an Asian-American passenger has caused uproars and outrages in every corner of US and China. The videos and reports went viral with millions of comments and calls for boycotting. There are demonstrations, lawsuits, investigations, demands for more apologies and compensations, punishments on the enforcers, and calls for legislation on passenger’s bill of right.
The negative impacts on United Airline is immediate and huge. Many people came forward with similar horror stories of mistreatment. The CEO’s initial comments have made things worse. He has shown the public the company’s culture of profit first, employee second, and customer last. The investors are fleeing the company, causing a plummet of the stock price and reduction of the company’s market value by more than $1 B dollars.
A successful company must pay attention to the 4 Business Essentials of “profit, legality, ethics, and morality”. The reason for a business’s existence is to make enough profits to take care of the investors, employees, suppliers, and other stake holders. Without enough profits, a business will go bankrupt and everyone loses. But to what extent should a business be driven by profits? There are limits as dictated by laws and regulations, there are guidelines and policies for business decisions to be ethical, and there are the common sense public expectations of acceptable behaviors. Any decisions in business must be guided by these 4 essentials.
United Airlines obviously paid excessive attention to profits and blindly enforced their over-booking policy. The crews, enforcers, and CEO did this without empathy, common sense, and compassion. They did not pay attention to all 4 essentials of business and suffered immensely.
A lesson for all of us to learn, in business and in our daily lives. Profits and success should be pursued within the guidance of law, ethics, and compassion.
四個商業成功的要素
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
近期聯合航空暴力拖走一位亞裔籍旅客的事件，讓美中兩地全民譁然並引起群情激憤。更有數百萬條呼籲抵制的評論，透過視頻和報導已經傳送到全球各地；這些評論還包括示威、訴訟、調查、要求道歉和賠償、以及對執法人員的懲罰，並要求對乘客權利進行立法。
這些對聯合航空所造成負面影響是相當直接且巨大的。更有許多人現身講述自身類似的恐怖經驗。而聯航CEO對於此事的初步評論，讓事情變得更糟。他公開顯示公司文化是以利潤第一、員工第二、客戶則排在最後。結果造成投資者擔憂而紛紛跳槽、造成股價重挫，公司市值暴跌超過10億美金。
一家成功的企業必須注重四個商業要素：利潤、合法、道德，以及人情。因為企業存在的目的是為了賺取足夠的利潤來照顧投資者、員工、供應商、以及其他利害關係人。沒有足夠的利潤，企業將會破產、員工也會失去工作。但企業應該要賺取利潤到什麼樣的程度？這裡頭存在有法規的限制、也有企業做決策時對於道德標準與相關政策的考量、還有一般公眾可接受範圍內的基本人情。任何業務上的決定都應該以這四個要素為指導原則。
聯航顯然在這上面過度關注公司利潤，而盲目地執行超額預定政策。才會讓空服員、執法人員、乃至於公司總裁，做出如此沒有同理心、不按常理、毫無憐憫的舉措。可以看出他們沒有注意到這四個商業要素，最終蒙受巨大損失。
這件事情對我們所有的人來說，不論是企業或個人，都是一個寶貴的教訓。 求利不可忘了法，理，情 ！
