Some Thoughts on Large Corporations

Over the years, the sensible thing for people to do was to find a good job with a large corporation and settle down for the long haul and retire. The large corporations, having more money, were able to support their employees via benefits and the like. The incentives to have a company pay for your retirement and the like caused people to be attracted to these corporations.
With the attraction of people and the thought "Money is Power", corporations have become money hungry and in so doing they have become arrogant and flawed. The flaws are:

1. Believing that their customer base is constant and will always be there.
2. Believing that their Stock Holders are more important than their customers who are more important than their employees.
3. Believing that Money, the Bottom Line, and ROI is the most important feature of a business.

Believing that their customer base is constant and will always be there.
When a company becomes quite large, it has a tendency to begin to disregard the average customer and that customer's thoughts and problems. Customers begin to fall through the cracks. It becomes rationalized that because there is such a large customer base, if there are a few that fall between the cracks, then it doesn't matter. A customer is the vital part of Business! What are they thinking?! Without the customer, how in the WORLD can a business survive. I submit that when a corporation begins thinking that it is more important than its customer, then its downfall is in the making.

Believing that their Stock Holders are more important than their customers who are more important than their employees.
In today's world, it seems that Businesses are beginning to place their Stock Holders' interests above those of the customers' and especially above those of the employees'. I would like to submit that it should be the reverse!
Employees in a company work with the customers and know what the customer wants and needs. They understand what people want and how to work with them. The customer, as stated previously, buy the product and in turn support the company. The Stock Holders, although invest money, they are successful only if the company is. By placing the Employees first, the focus of the company allows for further innovation and adaptation to the ever changing world. By creating innovation, the customers keep buying and supporting the company. In turn, the company flourishes and the stock holders are happy. This is the goal of the company.

Believing that Money, the Bottom Line, and ROI are the most important feature of a business.
When Money becomes the key focus in a business, it is only a matter of time before the company will become choked and dead and will fail. There are many prime examples in today's market: Microsoft, Novell and Enron. The latter is a prime example of greed. The first two are prime examples of loss of direction and innovation.

In Short it is time for businesses to begin looking at and remembering what is important. This is a call for businesses to start making hard decisions and for management to start paying attention to their employees.