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12 Sep 2011, 12:18
"The desire of corporations to maximize profits creates conflict with the general welfare of the nation at large."
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.
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Analysis :
The corporations, that are more interested in generating bigger profit out of their business, do not consider the welfare of the nation and its people and as a result creates a conflict with the general welfare of the nation, I agree with the above statement because, I believe in today’s economic conditions and in a race to satisfy the investors in a rather competitive global environment, corporations tend to overlook the social and national welfare aspect of business.
The recent global economic meltdown is a fresh example to demonstrate how the banks , in a greed of generating more profits had put the nation’s economy at stake. These banks, such as northern rock and RBS in the UK had to be later rescued by taxpayers money, which could have been used elsewhere for the general welfare of the nation , thus creating a conflict with the general welfare of the nation at large.
The example of Lehman Brothers is also one of the specific examples in the US. Lehman Brothers generated huge profits by its subprime lending during the boom period and also attracted lot of investors because of its growing profit figures, but later had to file for bankruptcy , one of the biggest in US history with thousands of people losing their jobs in one night. This clearly showed that desire to earn maximum profit in short time period leads to instability and ultimately collapse and huge damage to society.
Some people might say that these example, are examples of bad management and high risk taking attitude of business managers. However, the fact is that such attitude and management strategy is born out of the corporation’s desire to maximise profits without considering its long term impact and damage to national welfare.
Along with the above , another point to consider is that there are various examples of Non Profit organization such as charity organizations that do not desire profit and are successful in working for the welfare of nation and its people.
In conclusion, organizations in a desire to maximize profit tend to adopt business practises and management decisions that overlook general welfare and ethics and as a result creates conflicts with the general welfare of the nation at large.