For an organization to operate to its optimum capacity, it needs to have a number of structures in place to support it. One of the structures and operation needs is that of stake holders, clients, reputation and welfare among others. In most cases, these are the most prevalent and deeply looked into matters when assessing a firm. This paper delves into reasons why some companies bypass their responsibility and harm other stakeholders and key players as they go about to hit their targets. We also look at what it actually takes to run and successfully make profits without harming the involved parties including the environment.
Key Characteristics of a Stakeholder
Stakeholders are any people group or entities that have a share in a business. They can be internal or external. A stake in the business may include property, legal obligations to pay wages or honor contracts and moral rights that include among other things. Stake holders can affect or be affected by a business as asserted by Brenkert and Beauchamp (2010). In some cases, they are affected by a business and in return effect the business. A stake holder is therefore someone who, invests in a business, gains from the business, is affected by the project output and falls under the businesses “chain of accountability”.
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Stakeholders in PharmaCARE
The pharmaceutical business is one big and entangled industry to operate in. it has several stakeholders who occupy different niches at the business. Each of these stakeholders is responsible for a specific aspect of the business including sales and customer satisfaction. Recognizing key player is therefore prudent if we are to understand the full scope of the problem at hand.
To begin with, the first major stake holders in the PharmaCARE case are the researchers. They are charged with the responsibility of unearthing new information and feeding it to a team, which unmasks the opportunity and substantiates it. Researchers provide new information on areas that the company looks forward to grip or invest in. For instance, should a resistant strain of bacteria emerge in the population, it is the researchers who get into the bottom of the cause and come up with suggestions of how to handle the disease. Biochemists, pharmacists, microbiologists and economists are among major researchers that play a role when it comes to curbing the problem.
Doctors and Physicians are another group of stakeholders in the PharmaCARE business. They are tasked with making decisions concerning the products that are suitable for the patient, who are the ultimate business of the company. Doctors play a crucial role by allowing consumers to appreciate the availability of a product in the market by prescribing it.
Sales representatives and marketers are yet another group of stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry. They perform the role of supplying the medicine to doctors and retailers, such as chemists and pharmacies. Without sales representatives, some products may go unnoticed and result to losses. Since, sales representatives do not interact directly with clients, customer relation managers come into play to curb this situation (Brenkert and Beauchamp, 2010).
Consumers can either be prescribers or non-prescribers. The latter is largely made up of general practitioners and specialists. The non-prescribers include all the other groups that get their medicine directly from outlets and over the counter. Drugs sold to the former do not need prescription and are used to treat minor conditions such as headaches. Pharmacists, in some cases substitute the original drug with its generic, which results in losses. Consumers also want pharmacies to come up with commodities that they can trust and use over time.
Insurance companies too, are not left out in this list. Most of the people in Africa live in abject poverty and it is difficult for them to find an affordable insurance scheme that offers the right premium rates. In the pharmaceutical industry, it is the role of healthcare insurance providers to come up with a rate that the ordinary African can afford.
PharmaCARE needs continuous raw material supplied to them. Employees (herbalists in PharmaCARE’s case) deliver these raw materials. The employees are looking forward to work in an organization where they can meet their personal needs and stay committed to their jobs because they are satisfied with what they get.
Human Rights Violation
There are a number of human rights violations that are presented by PharmaCARE’s treatment of its employees in Colberia. The minimum wage is way too low, given the fact that the type of life the top executive are leading. The minimum wage should be raised from the current $1 per day to say $7 per day. This will level the playing ground and give each employee a chance to feel proud of what they are toiling for. Wages just over $7 is sufficient to raise the standards of life for a number of Africans who live below the poverty. Additionally, the executives need to organize themselves and look into matters that affect the wellbeing of the people. PharmaCARE needs to set up some social amenities such as hospitals and schools to carter for the services they accrue from the community.
PharmaCARE is also violating the people of Colberia’s right to a decent working environment. All employees need to work in an area where they are well cared for. Executives should not be living in high residential areas with serene settings while other people walk miles with heavy loads on their back just to deliver their products. In any case, the company should organize a means of transport to carter for collection and delivery of the raw materials. Alternatively, the herbalist should be trained on how to use motor vehicles and let to do the delivery with them. The disparity in standards of life is a global calamity that is setting boundaries between the haves and have not’s.
Harming the residential environment is a human right violation too. PharmaCARE cannot continue operating in Colberia while people are suffering from environmental depletion. The company needs to stay true to their slogan, “We care about Your World” and stick to it to the end. With environmental depletion comes pollution and its consequential effects are detrimental. Simply put, the company is harming the environment and has no plans to restore it (Halbert and Ingulli, 2012).
PharmaCARE’s environmental initiative is close to, if not, a hoax. It is known to deplete the environment while not coming up with proper strategies to manage the environment. They do not care for Colberia’s world. They are raiding Africa’s natural resource and giving little in return. They should at least try to compensate their destructive activities by coming up with structures to restore natural resources. The herbs and plants will not regenerate by themselves to their original coverage if not regrown. Some companies are able to come up with a number of strategies while some are not able to appreciate what happens to them. It is therefore prudent that a number of people make the right connection and resolve the issue. Civil rights organizations in Colberia should also take up and ensure their country men are not exploited by capitalist corporations. They need to stand up and fight for their people’s right. Ordinary Colberia’s citizens are not capable of fighting for their own rights owing to some factors that thrive in Africa. Corruption is at the core of most African nations and to exclude it prevalence in Colberia would be stabbing our chests.
Corporations that wish to invest in poor or under developed countries should come up with plans aimed to increasing the economic productivity of a country. Governments should not allow firms to just acquire land and commence their operations. Large corporations have the resource capacity to build and take the economies of the countries they are investing in to a whole new level. This should be the stepping stone developing economies such as African countries need to pass as law and adhere to. It is also integral that corporations do not harm the local environment or affect the way of life of communities in a wrong way.
PharmaCARE actions and Ethical theories
Utilitarianism theory requires that a company look at the good and the bad of their actions. If the people are rewarded with pleasure then it is a good thing. However, if they are rewarded with pain then they suffer and that is bad according to the ethical theory of utilitarianism. PharmaCARE does not uphold any issue concerning these pacts. They utilize the resources in Colberia but give nothing in return. They are therefore viewed as unethical.
Deontology places accentuates on the relationship between duty and morality. It seeks to create equilibrium where human actions should remain moral regardless of the duty they are performing. Some professionals claim that the ethical theory of deontology occurs naturally and in rare cases should not be enforced on anyone. PharamaCARE’s operations are not in conformity with this ethical theory because they do not exhibit morality. They let their worker work long hours and pay them peanuts. Nevertheless, they do not contribute in making the environment of indigenous Colberian’s better. This is proof enough that they are not at par with the ethical theory of deontology.
Virtue ethics takes inspiration from Aristotle, who claimed that a virtuous person is one who has ideal character traits. He is an inspiration to others and he derives his traits from natural and internal tendencies. Virtue ethics, unlike other ethical theories, focuses on character. It is for this reason that PharmaCARE cannot be consider as portraying Virtue Ethics in whatever they are doing. They would have compensated the Africans for the long walks and heavy burdens they endure on the daily. Nonetheless, they continue depleting the local environment just to serve their own interest.
The ethics of care stipulates that there should be a moral obligation in making the relationship between care givers and care receivers equivalent. It is a sort of a symbiotic relationship where the two parties are present do not harm each other while carrying out their activities. The ethical theory of care does not come into play when PharmaCARE is viewed. It is a difficult endeavor and only one party gains. The company gets resources while the indigenous Colberians suffer due to lack of adequate facilities. Pharm care does not offer benefits to its herbalist who harvest and bring them resources.
Personally, I think it is wrong to exploit human beings because of their inferiority. What PharmaCARE is doing is wrong and hurts the gut. Healthcare providers should be in a position to spearhead and help their customers adjust to normal. PharmaCARE can compare to real-life Pharama who would constantly get poor ratings from their consumers, who are major stake holders (Mandal, 2010). Complaints would rise on their pricing and after sales care. The organization is said to have been too profit driven to even understand what it meant to offer health services. Pharma’s poor rating and discontent from customers led to them being labeled enemies of the people who need to make proper and caring organization to take care of them.
References
Brenkert, G. G., & Beauchamp, T. L. (2010). The Oxford handbook of business ethics . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2012). Law & ethics in the business environment . Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Mandal, S. K. (2010). Ethics in business and corporate governance . New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education
