A few years ago, we developed a company that has since grown to become one of the exceptional organizations in the nation. Besides the several products that we delivered in market, we also started a program ‘Helping Our Hometown Grow program’ that benefited over 500 families in the nation. The objective of our program was to ensure that the targeted families could reduce their cost of living by supplementing their daily requirements with homegrown produce. With our volunteer program, we worked tirelessly to improve the overall livelihoods of families in the nation. The program was not only exceptional, but also remarkable and one of a kind. However, in the aftermath of recession, sales have dropped and competition is on the rise. To retain the program, the company has to incur increased costs and incur losses in the process. Moreover, if the company has to continue with the program, it has to lay off some of its employees, an act that is contrary to its ethical procedures. It is within this context that we announce the cancelation of the program and provide our assessment on recession, dropping sales, and increased competition.
The recent recession initiated a number of repercussions that greatly affected the progress of our program. With reduced purchasing power from our potential clients owing to their minimal income, the program was unable to proceed. Furthermore, several clients, who are among our prospective customers, suffered from unemployment as their employers struggled to stay on board during the recession period. Unemployment is a concept elucidated by Francis when he states that during recession, companies lay off their employees as they struggle to remain in the market (7). Additionally, the fact that the country experienced a general drop in individual spending implied that several smaller enterprises had to cut down their expenditures. Gwartney et al. states that the overall spending of a country drops during times of recession and leads to closure of several companies (310). Notably, one of the strategies that some companies undertook during the recession period was to lay off their employees or sent them on unpaid leaves. Therefore, it is clear that reduced spending and unemployment affected our operations seriously and crippled our ‘Helping Our Hometown Grow’ program.
Evidently, during recession, sales drop as individuals try to minimise the effects of the phenomenon. It is important to explain that our company was among the companies that suffered from the dropping purchases initiated by reduced spending. Apparently, dropping spending led to reduced sales volumes, a factor that reduced our profits and ability to run the family support program. Since, the option of dismissing our employees is unethical in the present scenario; the only option available is to cancel the program until the company gains momentum and funds. Fair treatment of employees is very important, as they are core in advancing organization’s operations and progress (Kleinig 208; Bohlander 598). Therefore, dismissing our human resources is not an option as they are the ones, who can help propel the company out of the current situation.
Another challenge that affected the progress of our program is increasing competition. Apparently, several competitors have emerged and are delivering substitute or similar products to our potential clients. Their products are usually low in price and quality as opposed to ours, which means that consumers, who are recovering from recession, choose them in place of our products. Hüschelrath (381) and Westland (587) assert that competition has led to reduced sales volumes and profit in contemporary organizations. The assertions are instrumental in explaining the current state of our company and the need to cancel the program. Therefore, it is important for the company to cancel the ‘Helping Our Hometown Grow program’ until we gain momentum and funds to continue. Meanwhile, we need to commit all our efforts on strategies that can propel the company out of the present condition.
Works Cited
Bohlander, George, and Scott Snell. Managing Human Resources. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Francis, Vitek. Output and Unemployment Dynamics During the Great Recession: a Panel Unobserved Components Analysis. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
Gwartney, James, Richard Stroup, Russell Sobel, and David Macpherson. Economics: Private and Public Choice. New York: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.
Hüschelrath, Kai. Competition Policy Analysis: An Integrated Approach. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, 2009. Print.
Kleinig, John. Discretion, Community, and Correctional Ethics. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001. Print.
Westland, Christopher. Global Innovation Management: A Strategic Approach. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.