Ethical Scandals: Competitive Advantage Essay

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Ethical Scandals in Government Contracts

Competitive advantage involves offering the consumer a unique value proposition that other brands cannot. The core principle behind the act of branding is that to thrive, a business must offer something its nearby competitors does not offer. For example, competitors may offer a similar product, at a similar price point. Thus, savvy businesses must either offer a product that competitors do not (either because the organization is catering to a specific niche), a unique service (such as special delivery service or additional customer service and support), or must strive to offer the product at a price point its competitors cannot meet (such as a company which sells at high volume and can offer lower prices) (“Competitive Advantage,” 2021). Competitive advantage is something that must be attained ethically, however. For example, a company cannot make a promise it can meet a specific price point, then renege upon that at the last minute when fulfilling a contract. Nor can it disparage competitors with slander.

According to Thompson (2004), a series of corporate scandals have increased the required controls to ensure more honest accounting on the part of organizations. However, contracting scandals are still rife. A good example of this is a recent scandal in San Francisco, in which public officials were found to be engaged in a pay-to-play scheme.

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The head of the city’s Public Utilities Commission “was charged with accepting bribes, including paid vacations, in exchange for providing inside information on city contracts to permit expediter Walter Wong” (Pringle, 2021, par.5). Having strict criteria, including financial criteria, regarding the rewarding of contracts is critical. Although branding often depends upon intangible attractions to draw private consumers, when dealing with taxpayer money, it is essential to have concrete standards by which contracts are awarded, to ensure there is no favoritism or pay-to-play schemes that have nothing to do with added value.Reference

Competitive advantage. (2020). SBA. Retrieved from: https://learn.sba.gov/learning-center-market/learning-center-competitive-advantage

Pringle, M. (2021). Elected watchdogs in scandal-plagued cities show how SF might avert future corruption. SF Public Press. Retrieved from: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/elected-watchdogs-in-scandal-plagued-cities-show-how-sf-might-avert-future-corruption/

Thompson, L. (2004). The corporate scandals: Why they happened and why they may not happen again. The Brookings Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/on-the-record/the-corporate-scandals-why-they-happened-and-why-they-may-not-happen-again/.....

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