The purpose of this report is to assess the Wall Street Journal article “NYC Coffee Startup Tamps Down Bro Culture by Hiring Philosopher.” According to the article, three brothers co-founded Kitu Life Inc. that produces protein-added beverage and sells it primarily in stores (Kadet, 2019). Driven by the #MeToo movement and its consequences, they decided to change their corporate culture utterly. As the CEO recalls, “I thought it was an interesting way for us to weave ethics, moral principles and values into our business without becoming this HR-compliant, corporate bureaucracy,” (Kadet, 2019). For this purpose, the brothers hired an ethical-risk consultant who helped them create policies and overcome stereotypes by having the employees “logically analyze topics such as what constitutes an offensive statement” (Kadet, 2019). As a result, not only the corporate culture has evolved dramatically, but also the company’s sales have soared since the last year, making Kitu the fastest-growing player in the U.S. ready-to-drink coffee segment.
Therefore, this case presents a very successful by far startup business that was hanging in the balance but managed to survive and better than that – to become a leader in the industry. The company’s success builds on its precise differentiation and on its unexpected turn to a domain that has no connection with business from the first glance. However, a closer look at the issue of ethics in business reveals that an alternative to a lack of moral principles is a failure. Corporate scandals that jolted the business community recently are more than proof. Indeed, ethics does not make the only strategy (Collis, 2008, p. 3), but “good ethics make for good business,” as argued by Kitu consultant (Kadet, 2019). So, the most valuable thing that can be drawn from the article is that sometimes a systematic approach to the company’s philosophy, including ethical principles, makes a significant difference for a firm. When combined with other strong strategy components, such as proper differentiation and positioning (caffeine-containing beverage sold in stores for mass clientele) and tailored into a company’s long-term strategy, unexpected decisions prevail. In the long run, these strategic-related components grow into a unique company profile.
Today, the most successful businesses have strong values in the sense that “ethics is the main root of business” (Kumar, 2017, p. 2), while some have only begun their reassessment of corporate philosophy. Every business, regardless of its size and niche, can interweave ethical principles into business strategy to create strong leadership instead of survival. A company’s management should realize the connection between their business prosperity and ethics. The first thing to be done is to hire an ethical-risk specialist or at least consult corresponding studies, for example, the “2016 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report” conducted by LRN Corporation (Eichenwald, 2017). Then, it is necessary to assess what is wrong and move from the compliance approach to behavior awareness. After that, it could be suggested that a firm’s leaders should turn to ethical decision-making, create organizational justice, and ensure freedom of expression. If implemented, these activities would blend naturally into other strengths of the enterprise and contribute to a more sustainable business strategy.
To conclude, there are examples of companies that once were small and feeble but have grown due to their awareness of things that had gone wrong. Being honest, which means being ethical, ensures clear thinking rather than jettisoning the facts. Tailoring the new philosophy into a company’s long-term business strategy takes time and resources but compensates in reputation, image, and, undoubtedly, in revenue.
References
Collis, D. J., & Rukstad M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review 86(4), 1-10.
Eichenwald, M. (2017). Why the most successful businesses have strong values.World Economic Forum. Web.
Kadet, A. (2019). NYC Coffee startup tamps down bro culture by hiring philosopher.The Wall Street Journal. Web.
Kumar, R. (2017). Ethics and its high valued in business world. Journal of Public Policy & Environmental Management, 1(1), 1-7.