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'Better Business Starts from Within'

'Better Business Starts from Within' Workplaces benefit when employees take action from their heart and head, but how is this accomplished? Since graduating from USF in 2017, and taking a job in politics immediately following- I've noticed how interpersonal interactions shape the way audiences think and feel about products, politics, people, and pay. In a scenario where the product isn't quite the price you want, the politics aren't exactly aligned with your beliefs, the people are sometimes cranky or misguided in their judgements, or the pay is less than you imagined- there is one thing that keeps consumers and employees coming back for more- genuine interpersonal connection. The way people engage with the things they consume exposes an intimate, structured relationship revolving around the memories or emotions elicited by certain objects, colors, music, etc. Why do you pick *that* Target? Why purchase the red one, when the other is cheaper and equally functional? How do we forgive missed opportunities to have great customer service moments, within the shadow of a complaint or awkward consumer/partner interaction? What makes us stay in a position for years, despite knowing better pay lurks around the corner? Across workplaces, I've tried my best to delve into the deep of interpersonal gains and losses by engaging wholeheartedly in what makes people their best at work. Optimistic interpersonal engagement in and around the workplace is key. Trust isn't built in concrete standards, instead it thrives in the "belief" that things work out: consumers optimistically expecting to receive products that satisfy their needs- companies optimistically assuming their products are consumer applicable, well-made, and deserving of payment. It thrives within the employee that optimistically believes their unique contribution is necessary for the whole to function properly. Better business starts from within. -TKS #engagement # #entrepreneur #business #business #business #business # # #customerservice #opportunities #motivation #leadership #strategy #culture #work #people #success #music #music #job #concrete #marketing #entrepreneurship #personalbranding

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Case Study: Swisher International

[TK SEDSO - OCT 3 2021]

Swisher International- headquarters located in Jacksonville, Fl., is a renowned manufacturer and distributor of tobacco and adult enjoyment products. Founded in 1958, the Swisher brand became a near instant success. By 1964, Swisher was creating 4 million cigars a day in its factories to keep up with demand.

Swisher is responsible for 34 percent of all mass-market cigar sales. In their manufacturing centers, located in the Dominican Republic and West Virginia, Swisher employs the use of the Mazzella FHS system for tracking and movement of inventory throughout the warehouse. This includes a conveyor system and lift to lean process and encourage better flow throughout the factory.

Due to the nature of high volume product creation, in a business with thousands and thousands of individual retailers, it is no surprise that Swisher has had to diversify sections within its organization to classify and track inventory. Swisher International has 5 main components to its overall tobacco inventory- separated by type (shown in visual 1).

From the research I’ve done, it seems that Swisher prioritizes its inventory based on sales and retail needs. 46% of Swisher sales go to HTL. This puts HTL, or Homogenized Tobacco Leaf products as “A” category products. These include the products listed under the Swisher Sweets Cigar Company section.

In the “B” category, I’m placing the Natural Leaf Swisher products. These belong to the Swisher Sweets Cigar Company as well and are manufactured in the same warehouses. The main difference is the consumer demand of leaf products currently. Though it is not the item most sold, it’s projected growth is double its current rate of 20% of Swisher sales. I’m also placing the Fat Lip Brands’ smokeless tobacco in “B” category because of its growth projection and because Swisher employs a specific warehouse for its smokeless products- showing its level of projected importance to the organization.

“C” category items have the lowest demand, yet are more expensive products with more specific manufacturing needs.

A Items: Limited Edition Wraps (sweet cream, sticky sweets encore flavors, new presentations such as their limited edition camo wrappers for the cigarillos), Best-Selling wraps (includes the traditional red sweets, black, silver, and diamond flavors- these are distributed to retailers as a Swisher standard), and High Quantity Packs (boxes of individually wrapped Swisher products, as well as 5+ individual pack boxes for retailing)

B Items: Natural Leaf Wraps, Fat Lip Brands - Snuff, Chew, Dry Chew

C Items: Hempire products, Drew Estate Premium Cigars, Rogue Modern Oral Tobacco

Due to recent government changes, and lawsuits- Swisher has had to develop a counting strategy that is longer than just quarter projects. As a company with many flavored tobacco products, it exists in a grey area where lawmakers are trying to actively deplete its main sellers- HTL style flavored wraps. If certain bills pass in the legislature, Swisher will only have 60 days to cut off production of flavored tobacco products immediately.

Cycle counting benefits Swisher International well in that it is sold across the nation to a plethora of convenience stores and major retailers. Doing overall inventory counts yearly would provide numbers as part of auditing, but overall Swisher has to maintain its inventory in separate sections and a lot more often than traditional auditing times.

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The Cost of Business Miscommunications

[TK SEDSO - NOV 26 2021]

Table of Contents

Abstract

Impact of Ethical Communications

Strategies for Ethical Communications

References

Abstract

Maintaining and understanding ethical business communication standards proves integral to the lifespan and utility of an organization. Focusing on specific communications methods, and the employment of these tactics provides organizations with the tools to succeed and thrive in a changing business world. Losing focus of these necessary communication standards: integrity, transparency, and accuracy- means a loss of business ingenuity, and business “self-discovery”. This article examines both proper communication standards within ethical business organizations, and the consequences of not doing so.

Overview

The modern world of business, ever-changing and evolving- depends on the practical use of standard ethical business communications. Since industry adapted to a connected, modern world that exists largely online or within the cloud, maintaining proper focus within communication channels is more important than ever before. Many of the communications that occur within a business are not face to face, so being able to communicate in a way that both protects the integrity of the business and caters to the needs of the individual is currently the best route.

Considering that the average annual loss of a company due to miscommunication is over 60 million dollars, maintaining streamlined, ethical communication practices could be the “magic potion” companies need to stay afloat (Buhler, 2020).

Impact of Ethical Communications

Avoidance of ethical communications or improper implementation of communications within a business is costly, financially and in terms of consumer faith.

The first step to understanding how to exhibit proper ethical communications in business, is to learn how businesses communicate. This ranges from integrity of product descriptions, to employee-employee disputes concerning on the clock behaviors, to insurance benefit packages and the routes to receive or qualify for them.

In our current society, most of the human-business communications stem from human resources departments, or all-inclusive email bursts. For the most part, organizations are well equipped at separating the product/service from the workforce itself in an individual manner. For example, the average Target employee is not individually communicating in any significant way with the CEO, CFO, or main leaders of the retail giant. This is done, in some manner, to create distance between the real world individual beliefs of the corporate heads and the mission statement of the organization (Newman, 2014).

This distance is helpful in terms of ensuring longevity of the company despite issues within the leadership circle. Because of this distance; however, the company itself is left to figure out all the ins and outs of day to day communications- all the while using CEO’s as spokespeople and figureheads of relatability for employees and consumers alike. The gap this creates means companies have to be very careful about how they communicate within their own organizations and with the outside world.

Failures within business point to a downfall of communication processes within organizational structures. Consider a company actively engaging with the modern world that is a staple to the average American, Nokia. When smart devices became the tech standard for cellular phones, Nokia struggled to keep up with consumer interest and demand. The question is: are all companies doomed to fall when confronted with a changing technological landscape? The answer should be no.

Nokia did not have to suffer. Missteps taken by staff and researchers for the Nokia company are laid plainly in their communications:

““What struck me when we started working with Nokia back in 2008 was how Nokia spent much more time than other device makers just strategizing,” Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said. “We would present Nokia with a new technology that to us would seem as a big opportunity. Instead of just diving into this opportunity, Nokia would spend a long time, maybe six to nine months, just assessing the opportunity. And by that time the opportunity often just went away.”

-Nokia, Wall Street Journal

Where Nokia failed was in its inability to trust its employees with the offers they were presenting to the business as a whole. Smartphones destroyed the economy for cellular devices offered by Nokia at the time, but Nokie itself had already laid the framework for smart technology. Leaders within the organization never took their researchers seriously enough to provide the framework for a massive technology change. Instead, they would juggle ideas around over and over again. This is why Nokia suffered (Weintraub, 2012).

Strategies for Ethical Communications

Companies following ethical guidelines in communications benefit from accruing less annual loss than their counterparts. So, how do they do it?

The main framework for ethical communications exists when a company knows its purpose and adopts a series of walls or blocks to ensure that that the company is always living up to its purpose (Ibe, 2021). Some examples include a code of conduct, mission statement, and employee handbook (usually signature of consent required).

When breaking down a code of conduct, it may appear as a list of rules to be followed that help align employees with the company’s goals. Core standards of these rules include: compliance of state and federal laws, integrity in business dealings, ethical action sans speculation or misconduct, and competence (Alfikri, 2016).