Putting Your Customers' Needs First

The Role of Corporate America…

Most public companies identify three different

constituencies that they must serve:

• • •

Shareholders/Investors

Employees Customers

Shareholder Focus

There is no denying that for most public companies…achieving good financial results in their quarterly and annual reports to Wall Street is what it’s all about. It is obvious to even the most casual employee that decisions being made within an organization are frequently impacted by current, upcoming financial events…month end, quarter close, year-end. Bonuses are almost always linked directly to financial performance enhancements (whether the individual contributes directly to their attainment or not). Top executives base pay is often “small potatoes” compared to their potential bonus compensation if they can make the company grow financially! Stock options and other related forms of compensation offer little incentive to management eligible employees if their company’s stock price does not rise; therefore, their total focus (and consequently, the company focus) becomes one of how to make the company more profitable in the short term. The best interest of the employees and the best interest of the customers are not always preserved or even considered in this scenario. The almighty buck rules! Gone are the days when “little old ladies” bought shares of IBM, Xerox, Polaroid, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, etc. and stuck them in their lock boxes for twenty years…only to realize that stock in those little unknown startup companies had suddenly made them rich. Today, retirement funds and unions, etc. control the vast majority of stock activity…not the little individual investor. Companies that used to have thousands of individual investors now may only have a handful of major fund investors who effectively have a “controlling interest” in the company. Often corporate investors who wish to control or takeover a company do not always have the employees’ or customers’ interests at heart. As an employee…do you really know what stocks or companies your IRA retirement fund is invested in? You might know the name(s) of the fund…but do you really know the names of the companies…probably not! When the stock market takes a “nose dive”, do you worry about employees at those companies getting laid off, about their jobs being sent off-shore, about factories closing and local communities losing a major source of tax revenue not to mention community support. No…most of us are simply worried that our investments have lost money. You see…in the end…we are no different than those big, bad investors who only buy and sell in the market place to make a buck…most of them have no interest or concern in the outcome of the companies’ employees, the quality of the products being produced or what impact it might