I believe there is confusion out there among advocates for additional regulation of certain industries; the argument being that business cannot regulate itself. On the contrary, businesses regulate themselves everyday. A business has to exercise quality of service control over its behavior if it is to deliver a superior quality service or good. Businesses put in place accounting systems that discipline how they manage revenues and expenses. Businesses are accountable to owners and investors and without control mechanisms such as by-laws, charters, audit systems, etc., owners and investors would see returns whittled away by inefficiency and theft.
What critics of business behavior should be arguing about is whether a market can regulate itself, as opposed to focusing a “hater” argument toward one participant in the market relationship. If critics take into account both participants in a market, consumer and producer, they would have to address whether mechanisms are in place to address contractual disputes and claims of fraud. I believe that courts and statutes already provide those mechanisms. Also, additional protections for mediating disputes and identifying and addressing fraud can be included in a contract’s terms and conditions.
“If critics take into account both participants in a market, consumer and producer, they would have to address whether mechanisms are in place to address contractual disputes and claims of fraud. I believe that courts and statutes already provide those mechanisms. ”
Every try to redress a grievance through the court system? Good luck with that–it’s time consuming, expensive, and even if you can get a judgement, there is no guarantee you can collect what’s owed, or otherwise get your grievance taken care of.
It’s not about “hating” business–it’s about recognizing the simple fact that for too many businesses, “business ethics” are an oxymoron and nothing more. Notice the comment in the initial post “Businesses are accountable to owners and investors..”. Somehow customers were not mentioned, and employees obviously don’t count at all, even though these two groups are vitally important to successful business.
Until we recognize and understand the issues involved with cut-throat competition, which are more prevalent in business today than anyone realizes, we will not be able to properly deal with them.