Writing 06: Corporate Conscience

Corporations as a whole should be responsible and ethical for their behavior and purpose. Their business model shouldn’t prey on other people but rather help them in return for money. At the same time, corporations shouldn’t be required to follow certain ethical standards as long as they don’t hurt other people, even indirectly. I think that corporations should have the freedom to whatever they want as long as they don’t take advantage of other people and don’t go against their promised purpose and image. As much as we want everyone to be nice and caring for each other, everyone is just try to get food on their table, even if it means to do something shady. An example would be like a shady data company that takes people’s information. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up committing crime or selling personal information to other companies because that is what they are. However, if Chick-fil-A did that, then I would be against it, since their image is to be righteous and moral. Companies should stick to their image and not take advantage of any good image they propose to the public. If a company is going to be unethical, they shouldn’t make advertisements making it seem like they are good. Companies are also going to end up getting bigger, such as Google and Facebook. At their size, they bring in lots of profit and can afford expensive lawyers. There is nothing wrong with affording expensive lawyers, but companies shouldn’t start trying to go through loop holes to cut through corners. Companies shouldn’t also try to lobby for laws that will benefit them. From the gas industry to the tech industry, lobbying plays a big role in Congress to get certain laws passed. Governments should stand up to big industries rather than falling for money. Of course, all of this wouldn’t happen if tech companies weren’t so big. I personally have nothing against big companies, especially if they were started by hardworking people with great passion. However, big companies shouldn’t start ‘bullying’ smaller ones and try to dominate the market. Every companies, small or big, should have equal opportunities. All of this, again, goes back to the government. Government should, in fact, pass laws that will regulate such corporate action. Yes, some laws have been passed for monopoly, but that was in the mid 20th century. We are in a new generation with new laws and new technology. Governments should pass laws to regulate bigger tech companies to prevent them from one, getting bigger, and two, bullying smaller companies. There are so many cases when if a small company doesn’t want to be bought out, the bigger company just try to copy their technology at which point the small company dies out while the bigger company has a replica of their idea. Governments should have better intellectual property regulation to fend for small companies because at the end of the day, it is going to be small businesses that are going to follow laws better and help the economy better, not big corporations.