Chapter 4 Maintaining Good Government Relations and Business Ethics

As I mentioned before, if you are serious about starting and managing a small business, I would recommend that you take a Business Law class to give you more understanding about some basic laws affecting small business. Fortunately, the SBA (Small Business Administration) http://www.sba.gov was created in the 1950s to help small business. (p78) The job of the SBA is two-fold. (1) to offer counseling and, (2) to assist in obtaining financing. I must stress right here and right now that it is not easy to obtain a loan (from a commercial bank or the SBA) to start a small business. A start-up has no history. There is no way to prove the business can pay off a loan.

SBA continued

I will talk more about financing a small business in Chapter 7, but I want to alert you, again, that it is challenging to obtain start-up capital. Not impossible but definitively not easy. The SBA offers help through its program called SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) http://www.score.org The closest SCORE office to us is in Sacramento. You can also contact the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) at 916-563-3210 or at www.sbdc.net. They offer free consulting, many workshops and other resources.
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Socially and Ethically Responsible Behavior (p.85)

Social responsibility is a businesss obligation to set policies, make decisions, and follow actions that are desirable in terms of the values and objectives of society. It means the business acts with the best interests of society in mind, as well as those of the business. (p.85) Social responsibility involves: (p. 86-87) 1. Consumerism which protects consumers from undesirable effects of poorly designed and produced products. It also dictates truth in advertising for consumers. 2. Employee Relations means showing interest and concern for employees rights. That involves training, development, promotions, pay, health and safety, and non-discrimination. We will discuss these issues in more detail in chapters 10 & 11. 3. Environmental Protection tries to maintain a healthy balance between people and their environment. It takes two forms: controlling pollution and conserving natural resources.
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4.

Community Relations which can include educational and medical assistance, urban development and renewal and finally the arts, culture and recreation.
Please read the Real-World Example 4.10 on page 87 to show what Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, Inc. is doing to be socially responsible.

Business Ethics

Business ethics are the standards used to judge the rightness or wrongness of a businesss relations to others. (p 87) Small businesses are expected to act in an ethical and socially responsible manner in dealing with employees, customers, and the public, and to consider not only the owners but also others in making decisions that affect them. At a minimum, small business owners are expected to obey both the letter and the spirit of laws affecting them. Further, they should adhere to any code (s) of ethics of groups to which they belong. Finally, their own personal ethic should guide their actions.( p. 91) Personally, I believe ethical behavior is more than legality and laws. For me, ethics is practicing the Golden Rule Do Unto Others As You would Have Them Do Unto You.

Assignment for Chapter 4 - Week Five

Please go to the Videos/Resource Button and click on the video called Joe-To-Go. Its a nine-minute video so it might take you some time to download it. Answer the attached questionnaire completing one full page. Include the questions with the answers. Submit it to me as an email attachment using a .doc or .rtf extension. This assignment is due next Saturday night,, by midnight and it is worth five points.
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