The Worlds Most Ethical Companies - Colgate-Palmolive - Essay Example

Colgate-Palmolive Introduction Colgate-Palmolive is one of the largest multinational corporations in the globe with a presence in many countries across all continents. Because of its presence in these countries, Colgate-Palmolive has over the years come to develop an impressive ethical record which many other companies in the same line of business cannot be able to match. This company has developed a reputation for being extremely conscious of its responsibility towards not only its employees, but also its customers as well as the environment because this is the only way through which it can be able to retain the good will of all its customers. Customers Colgate-Palmolive is a company which was founded for the purpose of creating the best products in the market for its consumers. It is because of this that it has often worked towards the development of those products which are not only attractive to consumers, but also highly beneficial to their health. Moreover, because of its need to retain the loyalty of its customers, Colgate-Palmolive has more often than not become involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives designed to ensure that the lives of people in those places where it has operations that directly affect them are improved (Ferrell and John 315). Because of such initiatives, as well as the high quality of the products that it manufactures, Colgate-Palmolive has managed to retain the loyalty of its customers throughout the decades of its existence. Furthermore, as a result of its reputation of producing only the best quality products, this company has managed to comfortably settle into new markets within a short time, unlike those companies which have a questionable reputation. In this way, Colgate is one of the most recognisable consumer brands in the world, with many individuals simply buying it products because the name Colgate gives them confidence about their quality. Consumers of Colgate-Palmolive products rarely have a problem with it and this is because of the company’s awareness that the production of inferior products will mean that it will lose out to its competitors, many of which also work hard to outpace its products in the market. Thus, Colgate-Palmolive has retained the confidence of its customers through observing their best interests as a means of making profits in the long term. This company often keeps its lines of communication with its customers open so that whenever there are any complaints about its products and services, they are taken care of swiftly and this has worked towards enhancing customer confidence in the company. The Environment A few years ago, Colgate-Palmolive was recognised as one of the companies that contributed to the degradation of the environment either through its attempts to acquire raw materials for its products, or through poor waste disposal practices. The result was that the company came to face a number of law suits to force it to change its ways. This lesson was taken to heart by its management and in recent years, Colgate-Palmolive has become one of the most environmentally conscious corporations in the world. This company has initiated procedures designed to reduce its degradation of the environment through the development of products which do not release too much waste as well as greenhouse emissions into the environment (Bevan 133). Moreover, it has developed reforestation initiatives in the South East Asian countries from where it gets most of its raw material, such as palm oil, which more often than not encourage deforestation. Colgate-Palmolive, as a successor company to the Mennen Company, has been held responsible for the Superfund site in New Jersey, being a massive contributor to the degradation of a lot of land in the area through dumping of volatile organic compounds ("Settlement Clears Way…."). One of the actions which this company took to remedy this situation was to provide the funding necessary to clean up the dumping site in collaboration with the state and federal governments. In this way, Colgate-Palmolive proved itself to be an avid observer of ethical issues concerning the environment as well as being a leader in the process where corporations take responsibility for their actions and making it possible to reclaim environments which have been degraded. Colgate-Palmolive has been recognised for its efforts to reduce its negative impact on the environment through the withdrawal of triclosan from most of its products. This move was inspired through the discovery that this substance had a negative impact on the environment and that if the company continued to use it in its products, it would end up further contributing to the problem of environmental degradation. Employees Colgate-Palmolive has been recognised as among those corporations which actively support diversity in the workplace. This company has recognised that with more diversity within it, the possibility of getting ideas for the improvement of its products from individuals from wide backgrounds will be highly increased. Therefore, within each base of operation that it has, Colgate-Palmolive has employees from many of the ethnic, religious, and social background that can be found in a particular country or region (Fernando 16). With such a diverse workforce, Colgate-Palmolive has been able to create opportunities for individuals across the world; many of whom would not have had the opportunity to prove themselves had this company not been willing to employ them. Colgate has developed a reputation for its total lack of discrimination when promoting its employees and one will find that people from diverse backgrounds have over the years been able to attain high positions within the company. Furthermore, the company is often also willing to listen to the opinions of employees concerning the improvement of its products so that they can be more beneficial to consumers. Because of the active participation of employees in the decision making processes of the company, Colgate-Palmolive has been able to develop better products which have attracted more consumers, hence increasing its market share (Schermerhorn 18). In addition, Colgate-Palmolive has among the best employee packages in the industry with those employees who have been of most service to the company being given among others bonuses and stock ownership within the company. This has made the company’s employees to be highly motivated individuals who help in the furthering of its interests while at the same time ensuring that their lives are also improved. Conclusion Colgate-Palmolive is a company which has managed to combine a regard for consumers, the environment, as well as its employees in its code of ethics as a means of not only pursuing its social responsibility, but also as a means of enhancing its reputation. As a company which was founded for the purpose of creating the best products in the market for its consumers, it has managed to build up its reputation to such an extent that it has gained the complete confidence of its consumers across the globe. However, the discussion above has also shown that a few years ago, Colgate-Palmolive was recognised as one of the companies that contributed to the degradation of the environment either through its attempts to acquire raw materials for its products or through poor waste disposal practices. The result was that this company chose to pursue better environmental policies designed to reduce, as much as possible, the negative impact that its activities had on the environment. To achieve this, the company has invested millions of dollars to ensure that the impact of its activities on the environment are minimised through the development of better means of making its products as well as disposing of harmful waste products. Finally, Colgate-Palmolive has been recognised as among the best employers in the world through its active support for diversity in the workplace as well as the generous packages that its employees receive. Works Cited Bevan, David. “Philosophy: A Grounded Theory Approach and the Emergence of Convenient and Inconvenient Ethics.” Ed. M. Painter-Morland and P. Werhane Cutting Edge Issues in Business Ethics. Boston: Springer, 2008. Fernando, A.C. Business Ethics and Social Governance. New Delhi: Pearson Education, 2010. Ferrell, O.C. and John, Fraedrich. Business Ethics 2009 Update: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. London: Cengage Learning, 2009. Schermerhorn, John R. Exploring Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. "Settlement Clears Way for Continued Funding of New Jersey Superfund Cleanup". Market Watch, Feb 2009 Read More