A key social issue involving business..

Joshua312 · 09-19-06, 07:09

As the title states I am currently working on a online-class project where all the members have to write a memo proposing a research paper topic covering a “a key social issue involving business.. The sky is the limit with possibilities....

Just wondering since I don't have very much "professional business" background if anyone could share ideas for issues that arise that would be interesting for me to researh.

Thanks for any suggestions/ideas!

TigerMike · 09-19-06, 07:43

1) good public relations/customer service, and the lost art thereof. Communicating effectively with customers and resolving problems.

2) Perception of the business with the community (why maintaining a good perception and image is good for business). I think of banks in this regard, as they are constantly promoting community involvement and participating in social events, which ultimately is to drive business.

3) Maintaing good employee relations, at the management/employee level, and/or among all employees. Good work rapor creates a positive working environment, and people will want to work for a company.

4) Business demographics, i.e. locating a particular business withing a certain "social class" of an area. As an easy example, you wouldn't locate a Bently dealer in small town America. In other words, locating near your customers and why it's important.

5) Hiring practices (I'll let you research these sensitive issues)

Joshua312 · 09-19-06, 07:55

Thank you very much for those suggestions!

The one that caught my attention the most and where I seen the most potential for a paper was: "Maintaing good employee relations, at the management/employee level, and/or among all employees. Good work rapor creates a positive working environment, and people will want to work for a company."

Do you think this could be another possibility - - An overall topic being the lack of ethical responsibility. The main focus would be dealing with the discrimination and prejudiced views expressed by Abercrombie and Fitch through their products?

TigerMike · 09-19-06, 08:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua312

Do you think this could be another possibility - - An overall topic being the lack of ethical responsibility. The main focus would be dealing with the discrimination and prejudiced views expressed by Abercrombie and Fitch through their products?

Absolutely! Ethics is also a really good area to discuss business social issues. Typically it creates a lot of debating points, which makes for good paper writing and/or discussion.

Certainly there are a host of other hot button issues that could make for a good paper, i.e. discrimination, racial issues/equality, etc...but I don't wanna go into more detail on those.

I think ethics is a really good idea though, and certainly there would be a ton of info on the topic.

02 SC Frontier · 09-19-06, 01:35

Another one could be whether businesses need to be more environmental friendly. Many times this cuts profits but is better for the environment. An example would be recycling programs, dumping of hazardous materials, etc.

wannafbody · 09-19-06, 03:38

customer service and ethics are both topics that are sorely lacking in US business culture

Sludge · 09-19-06, 04:01

Maternity and paternity leave are topics which most companies have to address. I think you would find this topic "narrow" enough to provide an excellent research paper.

truzoom · 09-19-06, 04:04

Customer discrimination. It's probably a larger issue in the south, but it's still prevalent.

Tasty · 09-19-06, 05:57

I think you'd be hard pressed to demonstrate in a paper that A&F is actually discriminatory and prejudiced based on a few T-shirts that irritated a minor portion of the population.

Grouse · 09-19-06, 08:42

I think you should allways sleep in a holiday inn.

truzoom · 09-19-06, 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tasty

I think you'd be hard pressed to demonstrate in a paper that A&F is actually discriminatory and prejudiced based on a few T-shirts that irritated a minor portion of the population.

I was referring to discrimination in the form of "not being friendly to this type of customer because your area is not particularly populated with that type of person".

Grimm · 09-20-06, 07:01

Quote:

4) Business demographics, i.e. locating a particular business withing a certain "social class" of an area. As an easy example, you wouldn't locate a Bently dealer in small town America. In other words, locating near your customers and why it's important.

That's an interesting one. It made me think of Walmart actually. I live in a suburban area that is mostly middle/upper middle class people. Our surrounding city has a population around 150,000. We already had a Walmart in another part of town that is more lower/middle class and does very well. Well in the area I live, we had a JC Penney move out, and Walmart just opened up a new store in that spot. Before it opened there was a story in the paper how a lot of people were planning to boycot the store. And thusfar, the store does not seem very busy at all. My MIL works there and says business is not doing well so far. I'm curious if it's because of the established Meijer that is across the street, or if it's a demographic issue.