RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS GOVERNMENT

It is wholly the responsibility of the manager to ensure that the constitution and operations of the firm are within the legal framework as specified by the government. This legal framework may vary, depending upon the nature of ownership of firm (proprietory, partnership, private limited, joint stock, Indian or foreign, etc.), size of the firm, and specific industry within which the firm operates. The government has laid down specific industry within which the firm operates. The government has laid down specific rules, guidelines and norms which impinge upon the firm right form the stage of its inception.  

For Blinds Company who manufactures roller shades, there are specific rules and guidelines and norms from government than for term life insurance agents. The governments’ rules and regulations, norms are made for different types of business and different type of size of industry. It changes with the type, size and category change. 

There be as a responsible manager you must ensure that your company is operating well within the legal framework and is fulfilling all its obligations towards the government. Whether it is a matter of posting a copy of the company balance sheet to the Registrar of Companies or setting up a joint venture in a foreign country, the actions must not violate the laws and regulations. 

The second area of discharging your responsibility towards the government is in the matter of paying regularly and fairly all taxes, dues and duties. The recent raids on large industrial groups are an attempt on the part of the government to unearth unpaid taxes and undeclared assets. A manager who acts in a responsible manner will be ensuring that his firm never has to face such a situation. The manager must strive to make firm a model corporate citizen.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS UNION-1

The union will always bargain with you for the maximum benefit. As a manager you should not try to block this bargaining process but aid it by providing the union with the correct facts and figures about costs and profits and thus aim for a realistic, workable agreement which suits both the parties. 

Besides providing the correct information you should attempt to involve the union in the process of managing the firm. You can do this by inviting representatives of the union to sit on the management board. This is known as participative management. The chairman of Japan’s Matsushita Electric Company often makes this little speech to his workers about participative management: 

“Don’t think I run this company. Each of you has a part to play in its management. We need the ideas, skill and knowledge of everyone to make a reservoir of wisdom for more efficient operation, better product and service quality, and effective management. We have a good future if we can work that way.” 

The basic requirement for encouraging participative management is the manager’s positive attitude and creation of an atmosphere which encourages free and frank exchange of views among employees and management.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS UNION

Your first responsibility towards your employees’ union is to acknowledge it as a friend rather than as a foe of the firm. Most problems with unions arise because of the assumption of the managers that unions have no constructive contribution to make but are interested only in playing a negative role. As a responsible manager you must understand and appreciate the fact that the management and union have a great degree of mutual dependence and the union cannot further its interests at the cost of the firm’s interests and vice versa.  

A responsible manager always advises their union member to go with term life insurance. Only a relationship based on mutual trust and cooperation will best serve the interests of the firm and the union. Window blinds and Roller Shades companies who are having big team size need to have good and smooth relation between manager and union.

The union represents the collective strength of all the individual workers. In dealing with the union the manager must recognize and acknowledge the bargaining power of the union arising out of its collective strength. The union will always bargain with you for the maximum benefit. As a manager you should not try to block this bargaining process but aid it by providing the union with the correct facts and figures about costs and profits and thus aim for a realistic, workable agreement which suits both the parties.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION-2

Today we continue our discussion on Responsibility towards Industry and Competition. Healthy competition encourages firms to improve their performance and nurtures progress and it is the responsibility of each firm to ensure that the competition it indulges in is fair and ethical. Resorting to unfair practices, trying to push out other firms on the basis of political influence or financial strength may yield some short-term gains but will eventually tarnish the image of the entire industry. All you actions must be guided by concern for the stability and prosperity of the industry.

A firm fulfils a need or needs of the society. It exists within the society and has a two-way interaction with it. It seeks inputs in the form of money, men, materials, machines, technology from the society and processes then to produce goods and services for consumption by the society.

Still today already we have discussed on different types of marketing relation with various society segments like responsibility towards customer, responsibility towards shareholders, responsibility towards employees, responsibility towards suppliers, responsibility towards distributors and retailers, responsibility towards industry and competitions. We will talk on other society segments like responsibility towards union, responsibility towards government, responsibility towards society etc…. in next posts.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION-1

Other firms within the industry are your competitors in the market place but are your associates when you have to lobby for or represent and an industry and not as individual firms. Most industries have their own associations at the local, regional, national and international level. The objectives of organizing such bodies are to protect and promote the interests of the industry, seek concessions from government and represent against any discrimination, and provide a forum for sharing and disseminating information on the latest technological and market trends. 

As a manager it is your responsibility to register your firm as a member of your industry association and comply with all its rules and regulations. The information which you provide to your association must be correct so that the association can improved technology you may consider sharing it with other fellow firms. 

All industry associations are voluntary bodies formed with the idea of providing support to individual firms within the industry. The onus of successfully managing the association is on all managers of individual firm members. You must be always willing to step forward and take an active responsibility in the association. It may impinge on your already tight schedule but it is good to remember that the interests of your firm are best served when the interests of the industry as a whole are served. 

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RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS DISTRUBUTORS AND RETAILERS-2

Today we continue our talk on responsibility towards distributor ands retailers. The company had to absorb the increased cost of the heavier carton, but it was more than compensated by the fact that return of stock sharply declined and the distributors had no more cause for complaints. A television marketing company provides service engineers to all its outstation distributors for testing each TV before it is dispatched onwards for dale. This adds an extra cost but ensures that the distributors and retailers receive sets which are trouble-free. 

The distributors and retailers who sell your products are in it for business and they must earn a fair return. Apart from the fixed percentage which you provide to your dealers, target based incentives, commissions and rewards will motivate your dealers to push your products harder. Providing support to the dealers by way of extending credit, sharing promotion cost, after sales service and help for decorating the showroom also form part of your responsibility. You must also nurture and maintain cordial relationship with all your dealers. Many companies hold regular dealer meets in an attempt to build up dealer relations for better corporate gains.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS DISTRUBUTORS AND RETAILERS-1

Distributors and retailers are the link between the firm and the actual customers who consume the product. In your capacity as a manager you are responsible for ensuring regular supplies to your distributors. Persistent delays in processing and supplying distributor’s order can lead to a situation where the distributor eventually loses interest in your product and switches over to a competitor firm. Timely supplies have their relevance provided they are as per the order specification. Supplying spoons instead of forks, simply because forks are out of stock in the factory, is not a responsible way of dealing with your distributors. 

The products that you supply to the distributor must be checked for quality to ensure that second grade or inferior quality goods are not shipped. Outer packaging of the product should protect it from damage in transit, because the dealer will return all spoilt and damaged stock which will eventually reflect negatively in your profits. A company manufacturing and marketing plastic bottles switched over from 5-ply to 7-ply cardboard carton when it started receiving complaints that the bottles were being dented and crushed out of shape in transit. 

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RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS SUPPLIERS-2

Today we continue our talk on responsibility towards suppliers. The manager’s responsibility towards suppliers of funds, i.e. banks and other financial institutions is that not only he has to make the interest payments, but make the repayment on time as per the agreed repayment schedules.  

By doing so the firm is not only helping the bank but also helping itself because the health of the bank will determine the health of the firm and vice versa. An added dimension of responsibility towards the banks is that the manger must provide accurate and complete information about the various facets of its business when applying for financial assistance. This will help the bank in assessing the risk and return potential of your project and determine the amount of loan it can sanction. 

Advertising agencies supply creative inputs used in promoting your company’s products. Since their services are not of a very tangible nature, most firms have the tendency to postpone or delay making their payment. As a responsible manager you must check against this tendency. Advertising agencies after all, run a business, like any other, and are your suppliers, and a payment delay from your end puts undue pressure on them and affects the efficiency of their operations.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS SUPPLIERS-1

Responsibility towards your suppliers emanates from the fact that their survival and growth (partly or wholly) is dependent upon your survival and growth. Suppliers provide you the raw materials, components and parts necessary for the production of your products. You are dependent upon your suppliers for regular, timely supplies of the specified quality at the agreed price. The suppliers in turn depend on you for providing correct design specification, adequate time for production, fixation of a fair price and prompt and timely payments. This two-way relationship works best when it is based on the realization of mutual dependence and one party does not try to pressurize the other for its own benefit.

Escorts Limited and Hero Cycles are examples of how firms can play a responsible role in nurturing the growth of suppliers. As these firms have grown form success to success so have their suppliers. A full-fledged bicycle ancillary industry has been established in and around Ludhiana in response to the needs of Hero Cycles and other cycle manufactures. In some cases firms may even provide the seed capital and other necessary infrastructural support to an individual to start and ancillary industry. There are numerous examples where these small ancillary industries have grown to be as successful and large as the firms to which they were originally supplying.

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RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS EMPLOYEES-2

Today we continue our discussion on responsibility towards employees. Instrumentation Limited, Tata Iron Steel Company and Hindustan Machine Tools have developed beautiful townships in Kota, Jamshedpur and Bangalore respectively with the best possible facilities and amenities for the benefit of their employees. Where the company is situated in a remote, undeveloped area, provision of housing and other facilities is necessary to attract and retain the required work-force. But in many other cases, development of such amenities is a reflection of the growing realization by companies that employees are not simply another resource for production, but are beings with emotions, desires, aspirations and have a life outside the factory too. Only a happy, satisfied human being can be a productive worker. Many firms extend their mantle of responsibility to include the employees’ families too. They contribute towards education and marriage of their employees’ children. 

Speaking about the importance of human level personal contact with employees J.R.D. Tata laments:         

“One of the inherent drawbacks of modern industry, with its large and concentrated labor forces, is the difficulty of maintaining personal touch between management and employees. As a result, many petty grievances, negligible individually but substantial in the aggregate, which might have been eliminated by a friendly word or timely action, are allowed to build up a sense of discontent and frustration among the workers.”

RESPONSIBILOITY TOWARDS SHAREHOLDERS-2

Today, we continue our talk on Responsibility towards Shareholders. Having done that, the manager has to ensure that the shareholders are able to earn profit on their capital. Shareholders invest their hard earned savings in your firm with the hope that they will be able to earn more on it than if they keep the money in a bank. Money invested by a shareholder is representative of the faith they have in your competence and ability as a manager to put their money to good use and give them a satisfactory return. The onus is on you to make your firm profitable and provide regular dividends to your shareholders. 

By virtue of the capital invested in your firm, shareholders are owners of your firm. As a manager you have to keep them regularly informed about all important decisions, activities and results. The balance-sheet and the annual general meeting are the usual yearly forums for such information sharing. You have to ensure that the information provided in reports and balance-sheet is correct and authentic, and dose not in any way mislead the shareholders. During the annual general meeting or any other such meeting with shareholders you must encourage them to ask questions about working of the firm and also provide ideas for improvement, and not threaten or intimidate them in any manner.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS CUSTOMERS – 2

It is the responsibility of the manager to provide the right match between quality and price. This relationship of quality and price is very important. Japan’s economic recovery and rise to the position of world’s number one position in electronics and automobiles is the result of its winning combination of best quality which competitors can’t match and at process which competitors  can’t match and at process which competitors can’t beat. 

Products manufactured by reputed companies carry stickers saying ‘checked for quality control’,’tested’, ‘O.K.’. Over a period of time the customer starts associating certain level or connotation of quality with particular companies and their brand names. If, however, your products do not enjoy this kind of quality association, you can have the quality ascertained by government bodies such as the Indian Standards Institution which puts its ISI mark of approval on your product after testing for adherence to minimum quality standards. Getting such certifications will go a long way in building the customer’s confidence in your products. 

Having ensured the desired quality of your product, and foxed a reasonable price for it, your next responsibility is to ensure that your product is easily and conveniently available to your customers. Unless you happen to be marketing a product in which your company enjoys a monopoly and no substitute is easily available, persistent non-availability of your product will lead your customers to switch over to the best available substitute.

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RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS CUSTOMERS – 1

Connotations of quality vary not only from one individual to another but also from society to society because of different social, cultural and economic values. In most European, American and Japanese cars, features such as safety-belts are standard features. In India these are considered super-luxuries. Here were may think of Maruti which markets two models of its cares, ordinary and deluxe with all these additional features. 

In India durability is a very important ingredient of quality. When we buy consumer durable products such as pressure cooker, sewing machine, bicycle, refrigerator, airconditioner, typewriter or even clothes, and furniture we expect them to last for 10 to 15 years it not more. The longer the product works or lasts, the better is its quality in our perception. In contrast, people in the developed countries discard even a perfectly functioning product in favour of a new one as soon as it is possible. 

In attempting to provide the best quality product the manager must always remember that quality is perceived in relation to the price of the product. Your company may spend a fortune in producing the best quality product, but if it is priced significantly higher than the accepted price you will not be able to find any buyers for your product. Price is always determined in relation to your cost of production and what the customer thinks is good value for money.