FCA bites into payday lender Wonga

Wonga has been accused of bullying tens of thousands of vulnerable customers by sending fake letters purporting to be from legal and debt collection firms. Their target market is essentially vulnerable customers so it's good that the new payday regulator the FCA is taking things seriously. There is a fine line between poor ethical behaviour and illegal practices and as this is being referred to the police it looks like they're not going to get away with it on a number of accounts - which is good news for their poor (literally) customers.

Should business start to think like astronauts?

Chris Hadfield was the astronaut who became a media sensation a year or so ago for his images from the International Space Station and his recording of David Bowie's "Spacey Oddity". In his book, "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth," he conveys a sense of humility about the Earth- having seen its fragility and beauty from thousands of miles away.

One of the points he mentions near the end of the book is the need for "stewardship". It is perhaps this stewardship mindset which could be adopted for business today replacing the short-term shareholder model. For example, creating a clear vision of ensuring you leave your organisation in better shape when the next people take over. There is real pride in doing this. It requires serious long-term planning.

Astronauts are undoubtedly the  most incredibly bright, committed and competitive bunch of people and yet they operate within a flat structure because they understand that the performance of the lucky few who actually make it to space (become media stars etc) is entirely dependent on thousands of other bright, committed and competitive people who help to put them there.This in itself is quite humbling. Within this very competitive environment they all have a single, cohesive vision that of making space exploration happen and a detailed and committed understanding of how the operation works and comes together.

Space exploration is an inspiring story of creativity, problem solving, dedication and duty and there is no reason why this kind of ethos cannot be applied here on earth if we can just get our heads above the clouds and start to think big: really big.

Football fans and football phobes can learn a lot from Everton FC: beyond the 90 minutes

Richard Kenyon, Director of Marketing and Communications at Everton FC opened the CIM's Northern conference yesterday with his presentation "beyond the 90 minutes". The Everton marketing strategy had more goals than the average football match ( easy to buy from, memorable match day, ownership and participation, customer knowledge) and was probably far more engrossing providing the crowd with a fantastic case study of the power of truly understanding customers.From a business ethics objective it demonstrated how you can still do good business, treat stakeholders fairly and do something worthwhile for the community.

Richard claimed that the Everton community scheme was the best community scheme in the world and essentially their USP.  He gave just a snapshot of some of the activities outside the 90 minutes from elderly persons' tea party, picnics after games for the needy, junior fans' forum, supporters' club day etc etc).

Behind all this was a business strategy designed to insulate the team's performance by building residual good will, driving loyalty and encouraging the sense of club. This was successfully implemented by a key marketing driver, understanding your customer. Richard mentioned their key principles

• maximise participation
• encourage feedback
• talk in a language fans understand and want to engage with
• be approachable and display humour.

 While most businesses and brands do not benefit from the emotional attachment/responses that football can engender or this level of loyalty, there is possibly something to learn and apply from this case study:the power of genuinely understanding customers rather than assuming you do and the achievable balance of business and doing good.

Values and ethics are key drivers of employee engagement

One of the key business benefits of having an ethical culture is the whole area of employee engagement. In the 2014 "Great Place to Work Special Report" it states "the best way to improve employee engagement is to train and motivate managers to act in a more value-driven way- with integrity".

"Low-integrity behaviour damages trust and engagement and so damages performance". This then has a knock-on effect on customers which is going to be bad for business, especially if the business operates in customer services.

The report states "high integrity behaviour builds business by building trust".It includes the top five areas for improving employee engagement. These are:

1. ensure fair reward, recognition and appreciation
2. provide a fun place to work
3. encourage life:work balance
4. build employee pride by contributing to the community
5. promote fairness so that people feel they are all in it together.

So as this blog has tried to reinforce, business ethics can build trust and boost value through the fair treatment of stakeholders.

Do brands really care? most customers don't think so

Trendwatching.com recently reported that brands are constantly telling consumers that they care (about customers, the environment, corporate social responsibility etc) but most consumers don't believe them. It also stated that "just 5% of consumers in the UK and US believe that big businesses are very transparent and honest." Trendwatching.com believe that consumers are so saturated with messages that they just "tune out" or simply accept an organisation's brand statements as a given (so the message effectively become meaningless).

This entrenched consumer scepticism is probably a good thing. It suggests that consumers have wised up a bit to "greenwashing," CSR reporting and generally paying lip service to important issues. It means that for the few organisations which genuinely care about wider issues and a broader base of stakeholders that they can differentiate themselves. This is because having a culture which actually lives and breathes broader, caring values is not something that can be created over night or addressed by a short-term PR or marketing campaign. Genuinely caring organisations are built over many years and as such cannot be easily copied, this aspect is where the competitive advantage of ethical business practices really lies.