Author Archives: Ivanna Balarezo

Retention

If I were in Harper’s shoes I would feel happy at first because I would think they trust me enough in order to take more responsibilities but later on I would probably feel like they do not care about how much stuff I have going on and how I am handling it. I would say that what discourages Harper the most is that she does not find someone to support on when she is overwhelmed with work and responsibilities and maybe the abandonment she feels by the company or superiors since she does not feel recognized or appreciated by her performance.

I would advice David that he could try to organize a little better the distribution of time he has to manage different areas or to get in contact more often with Harper regarding concerns she might be having and provide with suggestions or refer to different facilities and resources. Since he has more people under his charge, it might be difficult for him to involve more in deep in everyone’s situation but it is also important to show that even in that position, a little time to at least listen to your employees’s difficulties is appreciated. He could also offer benefits for the future as compensation for when they find someone for the position she is assuming at the moment. Like, a paid week vacation or something that she would appreciate.

Harper has proven to be an outstanding employee by stepping up when there was no one else to take charge and be responsible of that empty space that they had. By losing her, they would be losing someone with the potential for career development in the future or someone with the potential to lead. And even without those options in mind, the company would be losing a great employee and all the expenses that come with it, like ending a contract and finding someone to replace her.

Now that we learned more about the turnover of a company and the process of hiring, we know that the company is suffering from that empty position. The efficiency of the area or department may have decreased, they are spending money while advertising and looking to recruit. So, if we add to this losing Harper, the situation could only get worse because the remaining employees would be even more overworked and that could decreased their job satisfaction and so on. It is like a cycle when companies loose competent employees.

The Founder

1.What makes Ray Kroc and the brothers different from each other?

I believe that what makes Ray Kroc different from the brothers is the aversion to take chances on ideas or plans that he sees are worth it and not give up. As mentioned on the movie, persistence is key for success. Ray had that trait deeply engraved in himself, while the brothers did not. Even though the brothers tried and experienced with different approaches to grow the business, when it came to maintaining new locations, they soon gave up on the idea since they thought maintaining the integrity and consistency in all of the locations was impossible.

2.Do you think the McDonald’s brothers did the right thing by selling out to Ray Kroc? Did Ray Kroc have the brothers a good deal?

If we see it from a monetary point of view, the deal was good, but it is also important to consider all the things the brothers went through in the process of the partnership. I do not believe that their major motive was to make a profit that way and when Ray started to franchise McDonald’s the way he wanted to, they felt like their ideas and dream was being drifting away from its original path and intention. In this case I believe it was a good choice to sell out just because it had come to the point where it was affecting their lives on a whole different level and the process of suing would have bring them more problems than peace.

3.How did the local store franchisees make money?

At first I believe some of them tried to implement new and trendy items on the menu that were not approved or did not follow the standards to maintain consistency across all locations. But after that, their focus was set on proving quality and fast food efficiently, meaning getting the orders right.

4.How did Kroc make money? How was that different from the franchisees, running the local stores?

He started to make money when after meeting with Hanne Sonneborn, realized that in order to make money he should start buying land and lease it to McDonald’s, and we know already know that he was the only one with the power to decide to who and where to lease. That way, he made money from both sides of the business by investing in more locations and at the same time, making a profit out of them. Also, this allowed him to control what happened in these locations, changes did not need to be approved by the brothers anymore and he could overview and supervise these location as he pleased.

5.Does this film change your view of McDonald’s?

I would say that it does not changes who I interact with it, I have never been a fan of fast food anyway, so the movie does not make me want to stop consuming from them or consume more. It does in fact bring an insight of how it was founded and the history of Ray Kroc, the founder. I know now that he was not the one that came up with the speedy system for example, nor with the structure for the system. Ray might be an opportunist and showed being ruthless when it came to business but that got him to success and managed to found one of the biggest companies in the world.

Is Uniqlo being ethical?

I chose the brand Uniqlo for this weeks’ assignment because it is my favorite clothing brand and I thought it was a good opportunity to learn more about Uniqlo’s’ ethical behavior as a company and what goals they have for the future regarding sustainability and policies.

I started by checking on the official website what news they had published recently, and I found the recent “PEACE FOR ALL” charity campaign. The campaign shirts were launched this past June and up to this September they raised a little more than $1 million. These funds were donated to three non-profit organizations: UNHCR-UN Refugee agency, Save the Children, Plan International. I also read that they had formed an alliance with the UN Women in 2019, which I thought it was something good but apparently there is a hidden motive for it. I will be talking more about it later in this paper so do not forget this fact.

After that, a simple google search brought up reviews and articles about the company’s ethical behavior and sustainability. According to the article “Is Uniqlo Ethical and Sustainable?” written by Daisy Jordan this earlier this year, Uniqlo has a ‘repair and reuse’ program in which they use their own garments, reuse them, and avoid contributing with the large amount of cloth that go to waste every year. In addition, they also utilize the Blue Cycle program, which is a process that reduces the use of water by 99% when making jeans. And even though it is recent, they claimed that is just the beginning.

Uniqlo also claims that by 2030, 50% of its products will be recyclable and that all of its offices use renewable energy. But is important to know that while these campaigns and environmentally friendly policies are being implemented in the company, the majority of Uniqlo’s’ garments are not made of sustainable materials yet. And here is where I began to get more information about how the company is producing its articles at the moment.

When I found out that his percentage for the Fashion Transparency Index is not more than 40%, I started digging information as to why. The reason is that they do not disclose the methods for implementing those policies and do not list the suppliers for production. This could lead to hidden bad working condition issue. And turns out there is an ongoing case involving $5 million and unpaid workers.

Let me tell you how the story goes, and we will see how ethical Uniqlo actions were: The factories Jaba Garmindo located in Indonesia were the major suppliers for Uniqlo until 2015 when they shut down. These factories had been under investigation for poor labor conditions and work abuses, such as harassment and the firing of pregnant workers and this is important because the majority of workers were women. What Uniqlo did was stop buying from those factories to separate themselves from this investigation causing the factories to go to bankruptcy. After that, they failed to pay severance payment for almost 2,000 individuals denying responsibility for the unpaid wages.

Remember when I told you about the alliance with the UN Women, it seems to me that these two actions contradict themselves. On one side, supporting the rights of women and equality of gender and the other side, them not paying the severance to the workers who lost their jobs from one day to another. I would start by paying that debt to the workers who got the company to the place it is right now because I believe it is the ethical thing to do, being grateful and compensating for arduous work.

The website “Good on You” rates the work environment for Uniqlo at ‘not good enough’ and up to a certain point I agree. While it is true that Uniqlo might be lacking in the labor area, it has projects for the future and set policies that they claimed to be following, having begun already with some of them, like animal policies and not using fur and non-mulesed wool. Let us not forget that this brand has been gaining popularity on these recent years, so I believe that are still in the process of finding the best ways for developing and staying ethical.

Sources:

https://www.uniqlo.com/jp/en/contents/sustainability/planet/products/bluecyclejeans/

https://cleanclothes.org/news/2020/uniqlo-and-the-women-owed-55-million

https://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/news/2209291100.html

Uniqlo – Sustainability Rating – Good On You

Is Uniqlo Ethical and Sustainable?
How Ethical Is Uniqlo?

Ivanna Balarezo

My major is Business Management and I would like to continue my studies and get a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management. I really like watching anime and listening to music. My BMCC email is: ivanna.balarezo001@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu