Case:
In order to occupy the market share, some telecom enterprises in China even used the meanest means-cutting off the communication cables of competitors. The cable cutting incident originated from the fierce competition between China Telecom and China Unicom in Suining City, Sichuan Province. This is not the first time that the two sides have fought hand-to-hand because of the communication market share. Suining Unicom's aggressive development of local telephone service eventually led to the "cable cutting action" of relevant personnel of Suining Branch of China Telecom.
Unicom said that although the cable has been repaired, there have been new problems: on the public telephone to which Suining Telecom belongs, dial Unicom's local telephone, and the meter shows that it is dozens of times higher than the normal charge. "The practice of telecommunications is actually to make people afraid to make local calls of Unicom and indirectly squeeze us." The person in charge of Suining Unicom said. In the primary stage of socialist market economy, there will inevitably be some phenomena beyond the normal social values and moral tolerance. This is the so-called "modernization cost" theory. This theory can explain many practical problems. From the frequent incidents in which employees are searched by foreign businessmen and private entrepreneurs, to the fact that industry bosses are willing to hoard and join hands to limit prices in order to crush competitors to grab huge monopoly profits, and then to the fact that China Telecom Suining Branch cuts the communication cables of other companies at the risk of violating the criminal law, if this business behavior of moral decay and lack of integrity is allowed to spread, the price of modernization is too high.
On the contrary, in the "Microsoft split case" in the United States, the US Department of Justice launched a powerful legal offensive, and the serial lawsuit made Gates feel at a loss. In the face of the government's "difficulties", Microsoft still responded and defended, hired lawyers to cooperate with the investigation, and actively reached an out-of-court settlement with the Ministry of Justice. Even during the lawsuit, the Windows XP operating system, which is popular all over the world, was launched, which made people see the demeanor and self-restraint of giant multinational companies.
Case study:
If we "treat the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain", Microsoft can completely paralyze all computers of the US government with its own technical strength, because its products have penetrated into the government's most advanced intelligence and national defense system. The theory of political economy also tells us that oligopoly enterprises of the scale like Microsoft can actually control politics through various channels, which is the monetary essence of capitalism. However, Microsoft did not adopt technical or political means, but calmly chose legal struggle.
Value scale: a gentleman loves money and takes it wisely.
If you are on the right track and get rich, it will be truly "expensive", that is, the value of not only "economic man" but also "moral man" and "social man" will be realized. Of course, the modern market economy is driven by interests, but it also requires "taking what is good" and "taking what is right". Making money first, regardless of righteousness and injustice, is the last word, which is unacceptable; The "money god theory" that "money makes the mare go" and "ghosts are in power to make profits" is unacceptable; What is even more unacceptable is that only "black-hearted" people get rich and take ill-gotten gains.
"Those who win the hearts of the people win the world."
From the merchant's point of view, winning customers will definitely win the market, and enterprises will certainly prosper.
The purpose of running an enterprise is to "serve the society and make the country rich and strong". This purpose fully embodies the Confucian view of "people-oriented" and is universal. The purpose of management is to serve the society, and profit is the return of service. The most outstanding performance of respecting consumers and understanding customers lies in providing quality services to customers.
But some businesses still don't know the truth of "people-oriented". Some harm customers, and eventually fewer and fewer customers. This is the economic consequence of "losing people's hearts".
China's market economy system has not been established for a long time, and the corresponding laws and regulations are still under construction and improvement, but this cannot be the reason why China enterprises can abandon business ethics and not talk about economic ethics.
It should be gratifying that the operators in the same industry are no longer brutally disconnecting each other, but are entangled in lawsuits between several telecom companies after the split of China Telecom.
Economic ethics is not far away from us.