Category: Corporate Culture

Background of the Study

The continued existence of any organization is relatively determined by the interaction with its environment. Hence, their impact on their immediate environment and society is also based on their activities. In essence, as organizations seek to achieve competitive advantages over their competitors, the businesses grow complex and quite industrious, this, in turn, will affect the environment and society. Industrialization is also associated with economic, social and environmental hazards ranging from environmental degradation to air and water pollution which has dramatically increased deforestation and loss of habitats for aquatic and terrestrial animals (Utile, 2016).

Generally, an organization’s main objective is to grow, survive, and maximize value for its owner (shareholders). However, to meet these objectives they must prepare conventional financial reports to investors, potential investors, shareholders, and other stakeholders who show their financial performance but these reports usually do not reflect the effect of the operations of the corporation on the environment. According to Simnet, Vanstraelen & Chua (2009), over the past decade, conventional financial reporting has been criticized for not representing multiple dimensions of a corporation’s value. The criticism of financial reporting coupled with the current global financial predicament has asserted more pressure on accounting to represent and present the multiple dimensions of a firm’s value (Utile, 2016). Furthermore, the increasing need for non-financial disclosures the growth of global ecological awareness, and the movement for sustainable economic growth are bringing to the attention of firms towards making their operations sustainable and ecologically sensitive.

This is the reason behind the sustainability agenda (sustainability reporting) which is linked to earlier ideas like the accounting for human resource and social audits in the 70s triple bottom line reporting and environmental reporting in the ’90s, corporate social responsibility reporting, and various versions of the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines on reporting (Simnet, Vanstraelen & Chua, 2009). Sustainability reporting has become essential to both developed and developing economies with the increasing concern for the global environment and preservation of the global climate to make it more sustainable.

The situation is not different in Nigeria, as one of the oil-producing countries in the world, the Nigerian situation has always been a major cause for great concern for the effect on the environment. Until recently, Nigeria had no mandatory environmental or social reporting requirement for public companies. Nigeria was classified in the corporate sustainability reporting quadrant tagged ‘starting behind’ (Asaolu et al., 2011).

In response to their sustainable development policies and practices, many companies claim that they recognize their social and environmental responsibilities, in addition to their economic responsibilities, and are seeking to manage and account for these activities in an appropriate manner (Akinlo & Iredale, 2014). Corporate sustainability reporting has become such an important issue that most companies are now embracing this evolving corporate reporting system (Uwuigbe, Olubukunola & Anijesushola, 2011). Statistics from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reflect this trend in Sustainability Reporting. The use of Sustainability Reporting (a term used to describe a company’s reporting on its economic, environmental, and social performance) techniques has been increasing rapidly in recent years (Olayinka & Temitope, 2011).

In light of this, the study will critically look at the nexus between sustainability reporting and the competitive advantage of Nigerian-listed deposit money banks.

Statement of the Problem

Amidst the consistent competitiveness of the industry, the accomplishment of the deposit money banks is hinged on the optimal financial performance of the banks. The optimal financial performance of the banks indicates the genuine interpretation of the plans of the banks and their capabilities to invest property, assets, and equipment and accomplish set goals.

The essence of deposit money banks is to accomplish significant returns from their financial operations and investment activities. Therefore, sustainability ought to be a component of all activities and processes related to the environmental, economic, and social activities of the firm. However, the debate on the relationship between banks’ engagement in sustainability practices and competitive advantage has dominated past literature. This could be a result of most organizations’ activities engendering their immediate environments which are a source of worry to environmental stakeholders.

Nonetheless, despite the empirical evidence spanning several decades across the world and specifically in Nigeria, there seems to be a lack of consensus among the outcomes of these studies. There are various challenges to sustainability practices ranging from difficulties of estimation and projections, materiality, understanding connections among activities and effects, building up robust indicators, verifiability and assurance, and the test of applying the generally rigorous benchmarks of accounting to sustainable and development issues.

In light of this, the present study will determine the impact of sustainability reporting on the competitive advantage of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria by investigating the effects of economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions on the financial performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this research is to ascertain the impact of Sustainability Reporting on the competitive advantage of Nigerian-listed deposit money banks. However, the specific objectives of this research are to:

Determine the impact of the three dimensions of corporate sustainability on the competitive advantage of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria;

Examine the impact of corporate sustainability reporting on Return on Equity (ROE) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria;

Highlight the extent to which corporate sustainability reporting affects the Return on Assets (ROA) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria; and

Examine the effect of corporate sustainability reporting on Earnings Per Share (EPS) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.

Research Questions

The research questions for this study are as follows:

• What is the impact of the three dimensions of corporate sustainability on the competitive advantage of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria?
• What is the impact of corporate sustainability reporting on the Return on Equity (ROE) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria?
• To what extent does corporate sustainability reporting affect the Return on Assets (ROA) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria?
• What are the effects of corporate sustainability reporting on Earnings Per Share (EPS) of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria?

Hypotheses of the Study

The following are the hypotheses of the study:

• Ho1: There is no significant aggregate effect of the three dimensions of sustainability on the competitive advantage of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria
• Ho2: There is no significant effect of the dimensions of sustainability on the financial performance as measured by ROE in deposit money banks in Nigeria
• Ho3: There is no significant effect of the dimensions of sustainability on the financial performance as measured by ROA in deposit money banks in Nigeria
• Ho4: There is no significant effect of the dimensions of sustainability on the financial performance as measured by EPS in deposit money banks in Nigeria

Operationalization of the Research Variables

The variables for this research will therefore be operationalized here:

Independent Variable: Sustainability Reporting (X)

Dependent Variable: Competitive Advantage of Nigerian Listed Deposit Money Banks (Y)

Y = f (X)

Y = (y1, y2, y3)

X = (x1, x2, x3)

Where,

Y= Competitive Advantage of Nigerian Listed Deposit Money Banks (proxied by financial performance)

y1 = Return on Equity (ROE)

y2 = Earnings Per Share (EPS)

y3 = Return on Assets (ROA)

And

X = Sustainability Reporting

x1 = PRF (measured by Profit Reporting)

x2 = PPL (measured by People Reporting)

x3 = PLT (measured by Reporting on PlanetEnvironmental Impact)

The associated regression models will be developed in chapter three where the methodology of the study will be discussed

Scope of the Study

The study is on the Sustainability Reporting and competitive advantage of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The scope of the study will cover all the listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The period 2009 – 2019 will cover the aspect that deals with data for statistical analysis.

Significance of the Study

The study will be of immense benefit to various stakeholders ranging from banks’ management, regulatory authorities, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Local communities and other stakeholders, Companies yet to adopt Sustainability Reporting, Professional accountancy bodies, and future researchers. First, due to the rapid evolution of Sustainability Reporting, different standards and frameworks have emerged. This research will assist organizations’ management in determining which sustainability standards and guidelines to follow.

From a regulatory perspective, there are currently no legislative requirements in Nigeria for companies to prepare and publish sustainability reports. This research will help enhance understanding of the scope of knowledge of regulatory authorities like the Corporate Affairs Commission and the legislative arm of government in putting in place regulations that encourage Sustainability Reporting.

From a standard-setting perspective, there is currently no local standard for companies to prepare and publish sustainability reports. This research will serve as a wake-up call for the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria to put machinery in place for Sustainability Reporting standards or guidelines.

This research will help to educate local communities where these companies operate and other stakeholders like employees and social and environmental non-governmental organizations regarding the adequacy and potential of corporate Sustainability Reporting to meet their information needs and help them hold companies to account.

Also, this research will help companies that are yet to adopt Sustainability Reporting practices to understand the pros and cons of this evolving reporting system and its impact on corporate performance. They will be better placed to decide on whether to adopt this reporting system or not.

In the area of academics, the study will contribute to the enrichment of the literature on Sustainability Reporting. It will throw more light to students, scholars, and academics on the relationship between Sustainability Reporting and the corporate performance of companies. The research will serve as a body of reserved knowledge to be referred to by researchers.

Definition of Terms

Competitive Advantage: This is a superior position achieved by a company as a result of its successful strategy and challenging to imitate.

Corporate sustainability: A business approach that creates long-term stakeholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental, and social performance.

Deposit money banks: These are resident depository corporations and quasi-corporations that have any liabilities in the form of deposits payable on demand, transferable by cheque, or otherwise usable for making payments.

Economic benefits: These are benefits that can be quantified in terms of money generated, such as net income or money saved when action is taken to reduce costs.

Environmental benefits: These are gains associated with the actual or potential use of natural assets due to economic activities.

Social benefits: This represents an increase in the welfare of a society that is derived from a particular course of action. While some social benefits can be quantified, some such as greater social justice, cannot easily be quantified.

References

1. Akinlo, O.O. & Iredele, O.O. (2014). Corporate environmental disclosures and market value of quoted companies in Nigeria. The Business & Management Review, 5(3).
2. Asaolu, T.O., Agboola, A.A., Ayoola, T.J. & Salawu, M.K. (2011). Sustainability reporting in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Proceedings of the Environmental Management Conference, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
3. GRI (2011). Sustainability reporting guidelines, version 3.1.
4. GRI (2013). The G4 sector-specific disclosures for financial services.
5. Olayinka, M.U. & Temitope, O.F. (2011). CSR and financial performance: The Nigerian experience. Journal of Economic and Sustainability Development, 3(4), 44-54.
6. Simnet, R., Vanstraelen, A. & Chua, W.F. (2009). Assurance on sustainability reports: An international comparison. Accounting Review, 84(3), 937-967.
7. Utile, B.J. (2016). Effect of sustainability reporting on firm’s performance: A review of the literature. International Journal of Business & Management, 4(7), 203-208.
8. Uwuigbe, O.R. (2013). Corporate governance and share price: Evidence from listed firms in Nigeria. An International Multidisciplinary Journal, 7(2), 129-143.
9. Uwuigbe, U., Olubukunola, U. & Anijesushola, O.A. (2011). Corporate social responsibility disclosures by environmentally visible corporations: A study of selected firms in Nigeria. European Journal of Business and Management, 3(9), 9-17.

The life inside Apple’s fortress is highly demanding and has a deathly sense. Also, not many people know what goes on behind the closed doors of Foxconn. I have decided on the topic of focusing on the ethical status of a company and how it affects the views on that business as I am studying BTEC Business. For my business of choice for this project, I chose Apple Inc because of the recent issues occuring at Foxconn. Foxconn is one of Apple’s factories which has been under a lot of pressure in the media recently from not treating their employees fairly. The question which I formulated was ‘to what extent should Apple Inc. have been granted ethical status, with regards to their corporate culture?’ I found this ethical dilemma to be robust since there are very intense opinions about both positive and negative views on Apple’s actions at Foxconn. I have also chosen this topic since I enjoy looking at the inside of a business and how they work but this shows the downside of one of the world’s biggest companies.

What is corporate culture? “Corporate culture is the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside transactions.” Corporate culture is a major part of a business as it can affect the business’s productivity as well as not having a good environment to work which may cause issues between employees. “Awareness of corporate or organizational culture was first discovered in the 1960s but mainly for universities. Just after this the phrase corporate culture which was formed in the early 1980s and was widely known by 1990s.” The phrase in the 80s and 90s was used by people to describe the character of the company.

Huffpost, Inc, Forbes have done research on what makes a business have an excellent corporate culture. HuffPost has stated 7 things which makes a great corporate culture which include a “purpose-driven company culture, effective communication pattern, a culture of feedback, embracing diversity, teamwork, engagement, and loyalty as well as finally growth and development.” Inc have also made a list with 7 things which make a good corporate culture starting with “if you want to be trusted you must trust, give employees a chance to get to know one another, create a cool space, give them free stuff, no people who disturb the business, encourage growth and communicate”. These two lists are fairly similar in the sense that must the things on the lists are the same.

As well as these lists of seven Forbes have created a list of 15 things which make a good corporate culture. “Enlist, empower and encourage, Create a respectful workplace, care about each other, live it, be inclusive, be the example, communicate properly, repeat your message, never forget your purpose, establish trust, make it about humanity, create a core values statement, focus on what is going right, share the same vision and have a common story” Research from Lauren from TruPath shows that “64% of employees do not feel like the company they work for has a strong culture.” This is really affecting the Labour turnover at these businesses with the “turnover at companies with poor culture being 48%” where as at companies with a “good culture the turnover is just 14%.” Labour turnover is defined as the proportion of a firm’s workforce that leaves during the course of the year. It is calculated by Number of employees leaving divided by the Average number of employees X 100 t give a percentage. For example, if there was on average 150 staff in a business and 6 of them are off sick, 2 on maternity leave, and 2 on holiday during the course of the year. The calculation will go 6+2+2=10 so ten employees are off in the year. Next, you will do 10 divided by 150 which gives 0.06666667 then you multiply that by 100 to give a percentage which it will give us 6.66%.

Research by Brain Merchant shows the negatives about Apple’s Foxconn. The article states that “It’s not a good place for human beings” this is from one of the men which work at Foxconn. The man also stated that the management is both “aggressive and deceitful”. This has affected all the employees inside Foxconn via suicide and depression becoming normalised. This proves that Apple are treating their employees in a way in which is not respecting of them and not improving anything. From the research from Brain Merchant, I believe that apple should not have been granted ethical status because they are treating their employees unethically and inhumanely. In this example from Brain Merchant, their is a section referring to someone who unfortunately commits suicide, and it states: “Here someone dies, one day later the whole thing doesn’t exist” and to follow up “You forget about it.” This shows how unethical Apple is and that they should not be granted ethical. From looking at the research it seems that Brain Merchant is a bias source of information due to the fact he has actually been and worked in Foxconn undercover. The research also seems valid however it can be seen as biased as he has had experience with working for the company.

Apple should have not also been granted ethical status since research from Fran Hawthorne shows that Apple have forced their employees to work overtime and have elderly people work at these intense standards. Apple’s worst ethical decision according to Fran Hawthorne is “the banning of all titles published by John Wiley & Sons from Apple stores” This is because Jobs did not like the book that was written about him. Fran Hawthorne also had an investigation raised on Apple for charges of child labour and horrendous conditions at Chinese factories. From this research I still do believe that Apple should not be granted ethical status because they are forcing the employees to work overtime as well as have the elderly and children working in factories. This seems like a valid piece of research conducted by Fran Hawthorne due to the fact that there are many people who have came back with similar information about the elderly and children working illegally at Foxconn. Her research shows how elderly and children should not be working in such a high-intensity workplace since they are more vulnerable than people of average working age.

This is emphasised by the work in which Eric Yaverbaum, who within his report states: “the students maintain they were forced to work there by their school in order to graduate, while both Foxconn and their school maintain the work was voluntary; for its part, the local government of Henan province mandated that student labor, were available, be sent to Foxconn to help meet demand.” From this you can see how Foxconn is forcing students to work for them by making schools making it no voluntary to work at Foxconn and making so they need to work there to graduate. This shows they should not be given ethical status as they are forcing children to work extremely long hours way over the child overtime limit. This seems like a valid source of information since Fran Hawthorne has gained similar information about the elderly and children working at Foxconn.

However, according to an article in 2002 by Xinhuanet, it states “State organs, social bodies, enterprises, institutions, non-governmental not-for-profit organizations and private businesses (hereafter referred to as employers) are prohibited from employing minors under the age of 16 (employment of minors under the age of 16 are hereafter referred to as using child labour).” This shows how China was trying to stop child labour although it still occurs to this day especially at Apple Foxconn. This seems like a non bias piece as they are just stating the child labour laws so that companies can abide by them and potentially reduce the progression of child labour in the country.

Richard Bilton from the BBC conducted research about Apple failing to protect its workers. The research via BBC shows how exhausted the workforce of Apple. The employees have been forced to work extremely long hours ranging from 12 to 16 hours a day. Some of the employees state in which when they finish they do not have enough energy to move and will not have any time to rest before their next shift. An undercover reporter had to work 18 days straight before they were allowed a day off. The reporter stated ‘Even if I was hungry I wouldn’t want to get up to eat. I just wanted to lie down and rest. I was unable to sleep at night because of the stress.’ In the report it also states that Apple declined interview for the continuous improvement program. Apple also declared ‘We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.” This research shows how since 2014 there has been no improvement in apple’s workplace.

According to research into Apple’s corporate culture via Ben Sins. During his research he found out that the Chinese factory workers were falling victim again to high demands and lack of rest. With the high amount of demand in which the factory workers have to deal with huge amounts of pressure from the management. The pressure being caused by meeting the high demands are causing more suicides. The employees of Apple are being paid extremely low wages for the excessive workload. During the construction of the Iphone 7 apple have employed tens of thousands of staff. It is seen very unethical since apple are charging hundreds of dollars for a phone and only paying staff minimal.

Research from Harrison Jacobs shows that Foxconn produces half the world’s iphones and they employ about 350,000 people. Before the fall release of a new Iphone the factory produces 500,000 phones a day and around 350 phones a minute. The site of foxconn is regarded as a city because of all the 12 story buildings. Overall Foxconn has around 1.3 million employees in China. Foxconn reaches a span of 2.2 miles and dozens of buildings. Foxconn have very strict rules in which the employees have to follow

• “Wake up at 6:30 a.m.
• Head to the factory at 7 a.m.
• Eat breakfast and start working at 8am
• Take an hour for lunch. Most people eat at the canteen inside the campus, but some head to vendors outside because the food is better.
• The shift ends at 5 p.m., but if overtime is offered, most will take it and work until 8 or 10 p.m.
• After work, eat dinner with friends or play video games until 10 or 11 p.m. Then go to sleep.”

The schedule is switched for those who work the night shift.

On the other hand Apple has good corporate culture because since coming under the spotlight for bad corporate culture they have improved slightly since then but still not fully. They first come under media pressure in 2007 when someone committed suicide at Foxconn. Apple have changed this since they have made working conditions a bit better since this but they have done anything major since to improve the working environment for them.

From an article on Foxconn’s social and environmental responsibility it states on page 10 that “Foxconn upholds a corporate culture of dignity and integrity.” From considering the evidence of it shows how Foxconn pride themselves on being honest and honourable since they have a full compliance with local and international anti-corruption, and anti-bribery laws and regulations. This allows Apple to have an ethical status as it’s showing how they stick to the laws.

Research from Tim Worstall states that foxconn is not the worst factory in china since they “pay some attention to appearance and laws.” He goes on to state that the worst factories in China are small ramshackle and unregulated workshops because they pay no attention to laws and appearance. Throughout the essay, Tim Worstall declares that the conditions their have dramatically better than these ramshackle factories. Foxconn has raised the wages four times from 2009-2012. An average worker at foxconn get paid $2 an hour and gets around $400 a month. They work between 40-50 hours a week.

According to Travel China Guide “The Chinese government stipulates a five-day workweek and the business hour is regulated as no more than 8 hours a day and no more than 44 hours a week in the Labor Law of People’s Republic of China.” Foxconn violates these rules by offering 50 hours a week to their employees. This is granted as unethical as it is going over the work rate and seems like foxconn are forcing their employees to work what seems to be non-stop.

The research in which Phil Muncaster produced shows how Foxconn has been granted ethical status. The report states that the fair labour association has claimed that Apple’s foxconn is ahead of schedule. The report made from the fair labour association shows how it has improved its internship programme. This programme ensures that “students don’t work overtime and that they can terminate the internship at anytime.” It also states that many physical changes have occured to improve worker health and safety. Foxconn now have regular checks to see if equipment is working properly for safety purposes and they also test the emergency equipment. Foxconn according from Phil Muncaster has reduced hours per week down to 60 including overtime with a goal of reaching 40 hours per week including 9 hours overtime without affecting pay.

The research by Peter Kane shows that the president of the US has stated Foxconn will bring potential of 13,000 jobs. Foxconn is the largest contract electronics manufacturer and makes everything from ipods, to kindles and to LCD screens. Foxconn will initially hire 3,000 employees instead of the 13,000 in the next 10 years. It would cost taxpayers “$17,273 per worker per year” Foxconn has started to invest into automation systems since they will be more efficient and less expensive. This is seemed as ethical since they are reliving employees of tough and harsh conditions and making robots do the jobs for them.

In conclusion I believe that apple’s corporate culture can do with some drastic improvements in how they treat their employees since it can be look at as inhumanely. Besides I do feel Apple has improved slightly via they are cutting down the amount of child labour since the child has a choice in which if they want to continue with the internship.

Research conducted by Pauline Meyer shows how important corporate culture is to Apple. In Pauline Meyer’s report it states that it is a “key factor for success” suggesting that they have worked hard to gain the title of being a good ethical company. As well as this Apple have gained an ethical status according to Pauline Meyer is that Apple “maintains the business philosophy, values, beliefs, and related behaviors among employees.” This shows that Apple should be awarded an ethical status as they do consider employees values and beliefs which in some companies do not. This causes the employees to feel appreciated within Apple and is why apple should be awarded an ethical status.

From the CSR rating it shows that apple are very ethical since they have a rating of 88 out of 100 which is regarded as high which shows that they have a good corporate culture. This shows that apple looks after their employees and treats everyone fairly. This research was compared to “18,553 different companies” which show Apple having one of the best scores. This is also backed up with research from Joanna Zambas as she regards apple as having a great corporate culture. Apple according to her research an employee she interviewed stated “competitive pay, great benefits, amazing people, great work, awesome opportunities, excellent experiences, great atmospheres in a beautiful store, no matter where you’re working!” This shows that the employees at apple are enjoying working at Apple since they are being treated fairly since they are saying it’s an amazing place to work. This shows that Apple have a good ethical status as the person states that they get great benefits which can show them caring for their employees and everyone involved in the business.

The corporate culture at apple is not even half as good as Netflix’s corporate culture as they are one of the best companies for corporate culture as they were in the top five great corporate cultures from Forbes. The first thing they do which apple do not is value there their employees since netflix believe that their “values are skills and behaviours that they seek in people.” Compared to apple whose values are based on the customers. They also base their values on innovation, good management, quality/excellence and positive social contribution. Apple do include team spirit but from my essay about Apple (Foxconn), this must not include those working in the factories.

Apple apparently aim for effectivenesses and quality of life. Netflix compared to apple allow their employees to have freedom which makes them responsible. From doing this netflix have told employees to rely on logic and common sense instead of having strict rules. Apple on the other hand have strict rules which limits their employees of staying within the rules. According to the values of apple they believe that having aggressive goals will help the team drive towards achievements. Also having built the company on innovation when providing products helps Apple set the aggressive targets. Netflix is less aggressive in setting goals as they have clear strategies and goals planned which are far less intense than Apple’s.

Overall I believe with the side in which Apple should not of been granted ethical status since there are way more negatives than positives. Also from looking through my research I conducted there was some distressing images of conditions within and at Foxconn. Some of the images showed their living condition which was in a tight space which seemed like they are caged up just for work. I don’t agree with the fact of child and elderly labour at Foxconn since they are the most vulnerable and have to put up with the intense demand of Foxconn. The working hours at Foxconn are way to high since 40 to 60 hours a week on $2 an hour is absurd. It seem like high levels of intense work for very little reward as well as barely getting any rest before their next shift. My last point is there is a strict timetable of employees days which is forcing them to feel like they are still working even when they are scheduled to

Work organization and society

1. In recent years companies like Google and Innocent have tried to implement ‘fun’ corporate cultures. Assess the pros and cons of such organizational cultures for workers and organizations.

Google and Innocent have tried to implement ‘fun’ corporate cultures in their organizations which has both pros and cons for workers and organizations. There are so many perks of working at Google. Workers get unparalleled advantages.

Pros of ‘fun’ corporate culture

In organizations which practices fun corporate culture, people work in a friendly atmosphere as a team; which can enhance the creativity of employees and expand the productivity of an organization. Workers can produce significant companionship. The obstructions between employees are removed. There is no pessimism and malevolence between the workforce members. They collaborated together and have fun to make memory recollections. In fun corporate culture, the stress level of work diminishes at the workplace. There are other significant immaterial characteristics that keep workers glad, and devoted to such an organization.

Genuine Flexibility

This is the main pro aspect of ‘fun’ corporate culture in an organization as it can truly comprehend the requirement for workers to have an adaptable calendar and work on their terms to create their innovations and a more noteworthy dimension of efficiency. Such organizations have given their workers a chance to evaluate how they’d like to function and provide them with the opportunity to work in a manner which best suits them.

2. The opportunity To be innovative

Organizations which practice fun corporate culture has truly coaxed out the best fun aspects of working in tech and enhanced those to the most extreme. It allows individuals to take care of immense issues while conveying individuals the most critical asset they can have: data. They are somewhat contemptuous with diversion and liberal with advantages. Those things dependably enhance worker bliss, which has an immediate association with profitability.

3. A Funfilled Environment at the workplace

Such organizations became only a fun spot and do not feel like a workplace. That is hard to accomplish in an organization where workers regularly work long days and even ends of the week. Nonetheless, with the advantages, environment, and adaptability on where workers can work, such organizations have figured out how to make an exceptionally innovative and agreeable work environment.

4. The Expertise of people

Such organizations possess the most talented people. They have access to specialists in pretty much every innovative field, and the extraordinary employing process guarantees that the immense larger part of workers is not simply savvy and competent – they’re additionally kind and humble.

5. Friendly Pooch Workplace

Such organizations need to be cherished. In a fun, corporate culture organizations urge workers to bring their puppy to work. Pets are seen as an approach to improve the nature of work life. In the worker set of principles, Google has composed a whole area on canines. Any organization concentrated on the better subtleties that obscure the qualification between the home and workplaces will undoubtedly get high checks on culture.

6. Shared Values Across The Organization

While perks offered in such organizations are extraordinary, it’s not simply the advantages that make а incredible culture. It’s something different: It’s the manner in which the board and partners treat each other. That is the main thing by the day’s end.

7. Steady Innovation

Such organizations have a culture that advances cooperation and stresses an air of development, allowing workers to connect to the way of life. They put a great deal of exertion into recruiting the right individuals, consequently enabling them to have a team of people who have comparable targets and group associates.

8. Trustability

In such organizations, the “employer-employee relationship” is grasped as the most critical component: Trustability. Organizations eagerness to believe their workforce is the thing that breeds imagination, well beyond execution and occupation fulfillment.

9. Employees’ Wants And Needs are aligned with organizational culture

Such organizations demonstrate that it values their workforce. They want to provide workers with the best experience by ensuring that its work environments line up with what workers need. These organizations provide great enlightenment to its works, pay, work-life equalization, compensation, amazing food, breaks, leave, rewards, bonus, parties and much more, the organization comprehends that workers should be dealt with in all parts of their lives to provide the highest level of performance.

10. Mindset for Growth & Improvement

An organization which practices fun corporate culture draws in individuals who are brilliant and high achievers but at the same time are unassuming and continually hoping to enhance themselves and the organization. That shields worker from getting to be self-satisfied – a way that many tech giants that are progressively haughty pursue.

11. Focus On Happiness of workers

An organization which practice fun corporate culture has people whose unrivaled intention is to keep workers more than upbeat and support profitability. At that point, they offer plenty of workforce advantages, including free, natural, gourmet expert arranged dinners, free wellbeing and dental, half vehicle sponsorships, rest units, computer games, ping pong, on location doctors and the sky is the limit from there.

12.’Radical openness’

The idea of radical openness is a key fixing in the achievement of work-life balance in Organization which practice fun corporate culture.

13. A Clear Purpose

An organization which practice fun corporate culture has an incredible workplace environment since they have an extraordinary reason that is clear and direct: ‘To sort out the world’s data and make it generally available and valuable.’ Having a mission that the organization sticks to enables the Organization to have a fun culture.

Cons of fun corporate culture

it’s not all incredible for fun corporate culture. Truth be told, similarly, as with an immense organization with a large number of workers, there will undoubtedly be a couple of hiccups all over.

Lack of concentration at the workplace

In organizations which possess fun corporate culture, Workers probably do not concentrate on the jobs needing to be done. Things may finish up escaping disorderly and unrestrained. It may go over to customers that the staff is young. Somebody may finish up feeling awful and hurt. The workplace is a spot for genuine work. The workforce may end up feeling awkward. Such organizations have the absolute best livens and they are among the most generously compensated in the business.

2. Qualified Employees

Such organizations hire most qualified employees even for low-level positions as they mostly have an exceptionally solid brand position. That is the reason they need to pick the most brilliant hopefuls notwithstanding for low-level positions. It’s difficult to get advanced In case a worker as of now overqualified for a post, one can expect that individuals with higher posts have significantly ‘better’ training and more grounded hard-working attitude.

3. Numerous self-boastful individuals

Everybody is regional. They’re not keen on the supposition of others, except if those individuals are critical. Not enough work diversity. These organizations procure individuals with comparative foundations; the same perspectives from a similar 10 schools with similar interests. For instance, In the wake of being a Google employee, your measures will nearly be difficult to coordinate. You’ll generally search for similar advantages you got from your past manager.

4. The reward framework is unequivocally one-sided toward ‘dispatches.’

You can’t get advanced for doing steady upgrades. Rather, you need to support assemble and dispatch another item. Obviously, most workers motivate to work for extra hours effectively. But such organizations’ rewards don’t give motivating forces for doing that work. Getting a spot on a dispatch group is exceptionally aggressive and a few people feel it’s more about who you know than how you perform.

5. There’s a great deal of friend strain to invest a ton of energy at the workplace since every other person is investing time at the workplace.

Since its most punctual days, Such organizations have employed workers directly out of school. These are kids that are extremely yearning and need to climb on the planet—so they invest a ton of energy working. The majority of their time, really. Such organizations support this by having a lot of sustenance offices on grounds and different approaches to basically ‘live’ at organizations which practice fun corporate culture.

6. Supervision is insignificant—yet that cuts both ways.

Such organizations offer a huge amount of opportunity, and there’s negligible oversight. Truly, you can basically do anything you desire, as long as you complete your work. Be that as it may, you additionally don’t get a ton of direction on the most proficient method to do your work. So in the event that you aren’t extremely self-propelled, it tends to be hard to dispatch your undertakings on time.

7. Remote-office experience is truly faltering.

Tasks that begin in remote workplaces like New York and Sydney are reliably moved to Mountain View after some time. Your most logical option is to move to Mountain View on the off chance that you need to climb in the positions at Google.

8. There’s a ton of excess work.

Some of the time separate organizational groups will take a shot at a similar undertaking without really thinking about it. The outcome is a great deal of coverage in work done at the organization.

9. Competition

Such an organization utilizes the best workers and they expect the best out of those experts and specialists. When you get a ton of ability under one rooftop, will undoubtedly finish up with a great deal of rivalry.

10. Poor Management

You may feel like a machine gear-piece. While these organizations utilize probably the most skilled workers, despite everything they have to ensure they dispatch items. That implies that a hypertalented individual at the highest point of a college’s class may finish up composing a little part of a code, or settling a little bug.

11. There are some ‘free riders.’ in fun corporate culture

Early workers at such organizations that are still at the organization have gone up against a great deal of the board jobs, and some of them are simply ‘vesting and resting’— holding on to practice their choices and gathering a paycheck, at the end of the day. In all actuality, this is a typical issue with numerous organizations—particularly as the organizations become bigger. In any case, with such a large number of young people and driven new workers, it can end up burdening. The outcome is ‘extra pressure of inside legislative issues.

How fast food industries improve corporate culture by their stakeholders

Introduction

There is a saying goes “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Based on the need of convenience people need, fast food industries have become more essential in the economy life and filed nowadays. The corporate culture is a critical factor for company performance-enhancing and expansion of the market, on which the engagement of stakeholders could potentially increase the valuation of brand impression and culture. Kokemuller, Neil. (n.d.) indicate that stakeholders have increased influence on business activities in the early 21st century as community citizenship and social responsibility been consistently integrated into business management. With the growing complication of the industry and organization structure, stakeholder has become an influential element to construct corporate culture among fast-food companies. This essay holds the view that the integration of stakeholders and corporation would positively affect corporate culture. At the same time, further analysis based on stakeholders’ influences on a corporate culture with theories and concepts would be illustrated afterward, regarding four aspects, which are the founder, the employee relationship, the competitors, and the customers’ relationship.

Mode of argument

• Integration
• With
• Stakeholders
• Founder
• Influences
• Competitors influences
• Employee relationship
• Customer relationship
• Improvement of corporate culture

Founder influences

The role of founders in the formation of the corporate culture is irrefutably important. According to Nelson T. (2010), he mentioned that the founding of new ventures fuels competition delivers new products and services to the marketplace, and even creates entirely new categories of industry. Schein (1983) also indicated that the founders often start with their own theory of success and develop the culture based on their previous cultural experience and personal traits. The founders usually have their own intuition, philosophy, and presumption of the industries nature to operate their organization. As a primary stakeholder, the founders will prove more amenable to accept the challenge and guarantee the survival of the company. Furthermore, founders are more consisting of manage things which would reflect the corporate values. On the other hand, it may not be the most efficient to short-term viewpoint, which is positive to the maintenance of corporate culture, while several managers are concentrating on the short-term economic circumstance. (O’Reilly III, Caldwell, Chatman, & Doerr, 2014). So founders actually become the willingness to absorb risk and determinant of innovation base on their characteristic. In short-term, founders are trying to stimulate the novelty in new section although it may somehow be hazardous and wouldn’t gain benefit or improvement. The incentive of novelty by founders have a great influence on the employee to build an innovative and bold culture, which signify the attraction of talent recruitment, improvement of competitiveness and the successful reaction of a corporation.

For the case of the link between organizational culture formation in the fast-food sector, Ray Kroc has a meaningful contribution to the formation of McDonald’s organizational culture. Without him, the well-known American fast-food chain might not have become the emblematic global brand nowadays. According to Barbara Farfan (2019), Because of Kroc’s sales and part-time jobs experience, he found out the potential and the cleverness of the fast-food restaurant concept the McDonald’s brothers had created. He first thought about capitalizing on the McDonald’s brothers outstanding restaurant chain concept from the aspect of milkshake machine sales. Instead, Kroc had to be a national franchise agent for the McDonald’s brothers in the end. The life of Ray Kroc had filmed as “The founder”, it disclosed the initial strategy of McDonald’s. With the teamwork of Ray Kroc managing in the Midwest and the McDonald brothers managing their California location, the company gradually began to expand. Kroc had developed a franchise model that allows the company to scale faster, having rapid and high development across the United State. However, just as the McDonalds brothers had worried about controlling the processes and operations to the top standards that create and deliver on the brand promise. Kroc quickly figured out that among franchise owners selling fried chicken and mashed potatoes, while others let their restaurants and parking lots filled with trash. The brand strategy and franchise model was spinning out of control. To solve this difficulty, Kroc tried to move his perspective from selling hamburger franchises to owners who would find their own lot to build on to become a real estate developer who offered a turning point solution to potential franchise owners. The shift in mindset has to do with control (Benjamin Warsinske, 2017).

Employee relationship

Employee relationship is an essential influence of the company’s culture and performance. Roos and Eeden (2008) point out that the employees’ motivation and job satisfaction would determine corporate culture and performance. With an energetic working attitude and positive job satisfaction, employees tend to enhance corporate’s creativity and productivity. For the example of management of employee relations, Huawei, the Chinese communication devices vendor, conducts the employee shareholding system. The system shares both the responsibility and the benefit with the employees, which formed its diligence culture. (De Cremer & Tao, 2015) Ownership increases employees’ recognition and motivation, which create a tight link between employee and company revenue. The system and employee dedication construct a strong culture of contribution and diligence.

Another case of organizational culture related to the employee, Kentucky Fried Chicken, as known as KFC, world-famous fast food restaurant. KFC has more than 20,000 branches in 123 countries. According to Bob Phipps, the chief people officer for KFC SOPAC, he said: “If an employee is not trained, developed or looked after, then they’re not going to provide a great consumer experience.” (Craig Donaldson, 2015). To bolster the managers throughout this process, a manager component was created to expedite the manager to prepare for a goal-centric discussion with the employee. KFC also provides mentoring and coaching competencies, as well as a counselor and help the employee in completing their short and long-term targets (HCA, 2016). The revised culture improved the performance and innovation after several improvements, lead to the well-known global market share.

Customer relationship

As the consumer fast food industry, customer relationship and satisfaction has become influential to the marketing strategies and the quality of the products. Customer relationship has been considered as a highly desirable result of the marketing process. Conrad, Brown, and Harmon (1997) indicate that the customer tends to motivate companies to form the culture that puts the customer in the center of the firm’s thinking about strategy and operations. The customer-centralized culture empowers staff to deliver the brand experience to customers, which leads to better user experience and higher loyalty of customers. (Van Bentum & Stone, 2005) The integration of customer and corporate culture enable the companies of fast food to spread their products to broader users, gain a higher market share, hence express a customer care brand impression in the industry.

Subway, an fast food restaurant franchise that sells salads and submarine sandwiches, it has roughly 45,000 branches over the world and it is also the second biggest fast-food advertiser in America. In the purpose of building customer loyalty and customer relationship, Subway did some questionnaire to know what is their brand exposure. They designed questions such as “Have you ever heard of Subway?”, “How often do you visit Subway within a quarter?” and “How will you rate service quality at Subways”. As the result, 86% of responders recognize Subway, 68% of the responders will visit Subway once to twice within a quarter and about 89% of the customers have a good impression of Subway. According to the analysis, Subway can grasp the information and get close with their consumer. Consequently, create more customer value and build will relationship with customers.

Competitors Influence

Competitor is a challenging factor to fast food corporate performance and organizational culture. With the pervasion of branches worldwide and the development of technology, the environment complexity degree of the fast-food industry has become higher. The competitors had kept emerging with the prosperous development of technology and the transforming trend of the fast-food market, which becomes an influential factor to maintain self-development. The competitors and competition can induce the company to preserve its innovation by conducting secrecy policy.

With intensive competition and innovation bottleneck in the fast-food industry strong secrecy culture, the technology corporation can preserve the innovative technology development and strategy, further maintains the competitiveness in the market. The secrecy policy prevents leak of crucial technology, therefore maintain employees’ loyalty and avoid business spy behaviors. For the case of strong secrecy, each KFC restaurants must pay five cents on each chicken as a franchise fee, in change for Sanders’ “Secret blend of herbs and spices”, using his name and likeness for promotional purposes and the right to feature his recipe on their menus and (Liddle,1996).

Conclusion

After analyzing the influences of the founder, employee relationship, customer, and competitor relationships on the corporate culture, the stakeholder has become part of corporate culture formation among the fast food industry. The company’s value is considerably affected by founders managing philosophy and experience, which would motivate the culture of innovation. Enhancement of employee job satisfaction and enhancing attitude would result in higher productivity and the recognition of the company. By the competition and integration with other vendors among the industry, the company would develop the culture to motivate competitiveness. With the reaction and loyalty from the customer, the fast food companies are more likely to form the customer-centralized culture, further gain the market share and brand goodwill. By and large, the integration of stakeholders and corporation would positively affect the corporate culture.

Reference

1. Barbara Farfan. (2019). The Man Who Built McDonald’s Values and Brand. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/mcdonalds-mission-statement-2891825
2. Benjamin Warsinske. (2017) ‘The Founder’ Reveals Early Brand Strategy Behind McDonalds. Retrieved from https://brandedworld.co/brand-strategy-mcdonalds/
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