Ethics and stakeholder management

Ethics

Consumerism is a movement to improve the rights of consumers. It is my view that this movement is alive, but has largely stalled. The information age has allowed for consumer groups to provide information, but there has been little support at the institutional level for consumerism. The result is that drug companies have made Americans the most highly -- medicated people in the world; the U.S. is the only developed nation with both BHT milk and GMO foods; and the nation is flooded with tainted imports from China. While there is little doubt that some consumers remain committed to building their rights, most today have gone around the system. They arm themselves with information and make purchasing decisions in line with their own ethics. People do not expect any enforcement of their rights from government. Thus, consumerism has become less focused with rights and more focused on individuals enforcing their own rights by virtue of the purchasing decisions they make.

Lobbying is the process of influencing the behavior of politicians, particularly with respect to legislation. It is essentially making sure that they understand your story, in a favorable light, and are willing to work for your best interests. Lobbying takes place at all levels of government -- federal, state and local. There is lack of unity among the umbrella organizations because each organization has its own agenda, set by its backers. The interests of one umbrella organization may conflict with the interests of another. This is the reason why so many umbrella organizations have emerged and why there is little unity between them.

5) Privatization is turning over government assets to the private sector. Federalization is returning something to the government. There are a few tradeoffs. With privatization, there is the risk of price gouging, in particular when newly-privatized assets constitute a monopoly (a bridge, for example). With federalization, it is often viewed that the assets are not managed in accordance with maximum productivity. Privatization is often best when the product/service in question is going to be subject to competition (for example state-owned liquor stores like those in New Hampshire or Utah). Federalization is often best when the product/service falls under auspices normally reserved for the central government, such as issues of national security. There are problems, however, with both. Privatization is risky for governments because of prices rise or service levels fall, the politicians will shoulder the blame, which could cost them votes. Federalization is a risk because it will come under fire from free market advocates. In both cases, net job losses are a risk. Additionally, as has been shown especially with privatization, is that it does not always achieve the end objective, particularly with respect to operational efficiency.