Essay Example: Ethical Evaluation of Alphabet Company

Alphabet Inc. is an American international conglomerate company currently occupying position 3 in the Fortune 500 according to the total revenues for the year 2017. At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, Alphabet had annual revenue of $110,855 million, a rise from $90,272 million in the previous year. The company had over 80,110 employees as at the end of 2017 and has the headquarters situated in Googleplex, Mountain View, California. The alphabet was created in 2015 through a concerted restructuring of Google and became the fountain company of Google and its subsidiaries. Its subsidiaries include Verily, Waymo, Google Fiber, Google, and Calico although some have since changed their names after becoming part of the parent company. Alphabet deals with the technology sector majoring in internet services such as research, life sciences as well as investment capital and retailing. The Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet is Larry Page, and the President is Sergey Brin while John Hennessy occupies the position of chairman.

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Based on the business ethics of a company, it can be categorized as either of the below listed ranks; 0-Criminal organization; no ethical standards, 1-Poor ethical standards; numerous moral infractions and failures, 2-Average ethical standards: par for most businesses, 3-Good ethical standards, with positive benefits to society, 4-Excellent moral standards; role model for other businesses. Alphabet Inc has a rubric of 3 because it has reasonable ethical standards with positive benefits to society. The company's ethical standards are supported by the illustrations listed below.

First and foremost, Alphabet recurrently rates as one of the best technology companies to work for based on the great pay and employee revitalizations hence the question, 'What is it like to work for Alphabet?' Top executives frequently hold forums on Fridays where employees are accorded the liberty to ask any questions regarding the company and no matter how controversial, it is always answered to the satisfaction of the employee (Ledenyov et al, 50). Employees also get treated to outings such as ski trips and picnics during summer to congratulate them on excellent performance. Similarly, wellness is a prime concern at Alphabet thus employees are encouraged to use the company's facilities such as ball courts, gym, bowling alley and a sports park for exercising. They are further provided with three meals a day at absolutely no cost and paid a satisfactory salary coupled with stock matching, bonuses and regular promotions. The company has an unmatched flexibility and workers can move to new departments or projects easily. Other than that, there is benefits given to the spouse of any employee who dies and the company makes certain to help the bereaved family. With their atypical parental leave policy, dads can take up to five weeks off while moms can take triple of that period. The way Alphabet treats its employees with much dignity qualifies it to be a top notch company. Moreover, there is overwhelming respect for the natural environment and animals. Pollution of any kind is prohibited and it is every person's mandate to make the work environment hazard-free. Dogs for instance, are tolerated and cared for as an integral part of the corporate culture and employees are permitted to carry their dogs to work. Concerning fair share of tax payment, Alphabet Inc uses two structures to bulwark the majority of its international profits from being taxed. The design entails moving revenue from one Irish subsidiary to a company in Dutch with no employees then to another mailbox registered under Ireland (Cusumano, 22-24). Though the company pays all taxes and abides by the law taxes they are contemporarily under pressure from global authorities for not paying the required amount of tax.

Alphabet Inc took legal action against Uber over a technological innovation similar to Alphabet's proprietorship autonomous cars. The self-driving car technology has been in progress for a decade by Alphabet's autonomous car division called Waymo. The technology is linked to documents which were believed to have been downloaded and misappropriated by a former Waymo engineer who was later employed to work for Uber Company. The particular law suit was eventually settled in early 2018, and Uber consented to avoid using the robotic car technology in dispute besides agreeing to give Waymo an equity mark off of about 0.34% (Rocha, 23). It is noteworthy that Alphabet has an active and thorough involvement in law suits thus they leave nothing to chance if it poses potential harm to the company.

When dealing with and responding to customers' complaints, the company identifies relevant customer feedback in time and takes immediate action. Responsiveness is valued by usefulness and honesty hence Alphabet responds to all forms of communication from its users whether it is a compliment, recommendation, complaint or question (Glowik, 139). Employment is based solely on individual qualifications and merits directly correlated with professional competence hence the company does not tolerate unlawful bias due to race, religion, gender, nationality, color or disability. The major aim is to uphold a commitment to diversity in hiring and promotions. Nonetheless, one shortcoming in the company's hiring technique is that the number of men outdoes the number of women in the company.

Annually, employees at Alphabet spare some time on designated days to participate in service projects within their communities. Participation in public service such as contributions to charity involves divergent forms of activities ranging from volunteer help, giving gifts, teaching prisoners to support nonprofit activities they love. Alphabet has a well-stipulated code of conduct that governs how employees relate. The company interdicts any form of discrimination and harassment whether it is verbal, sexual or physical. The code of ethics concerning harassment is discussed in the Policy Against Discrimination, Harrassment and Retaliation. Any employee who feels they are a victim of any harassment are encouraged to report the matter promptly for appropriate investigations and action. In relation to handling disputes with government officials, Alphabet outlaws offering any sort of bribery or token of appreciation for concealing any type of crime or acknowledging a job well done. In the situation where a dispute arises, it should be handled according to the law.

The phrase `don't be evil' governs the conduct of how this company serves their users (Rocha, 27). It is about focusing on the needs of the customers, issuing to them the best quality products and services attainable, and generally doing the appropriate thing by honoring the law and keeping their word. Additionally, service provision and features of products revolves around usefulness because their users vary from individuals to large business types. One principle for operation is how useful the product is to a customer. Everything done is rooted around the realization that each activity done in relation to the work should be valued against the highest standards of business ethics (Rocha, 31-32). Setting the bar that high helps in hiring trustworthy people, producing the highest standard products and consequently attracting loyal users. Trust among users and employees are fundamental to attaining success according to the company. For the above reasons, the company maintains transparency while making its activities known to the public and production of dangerous or negative products is unheard of.

Alphabet integrates varied online and offline marketing techniques into its sales and marketing strategy. The efforts are majorly centered on Google and not its subsidiaries, and they are dictated by the following propositions; the first principle holds that focusing on the product element is the most paramount consideration and this explains why most of their products and services are naturally innovative, and to the existing products, features of innovation are added. The second principle is aiming at the broadest customer section with numerous products and services. Its core business, therefore, provides a wide array of services to the users, for example, Chrome, Gmail, Maps and YouTube that are beneficial to billions of people on a daily basis across the globe. The third proposition is by consolidating several elements of marketing communications in a homogenized way. These elements include public relations, sales promotion and marketing tools to communicate to the targeted segment of customers. Finally, Alphabet considers outsourcing or relocation of the U.S. jobs to foreign sweatshops as a move to boost employment opportunities for people working in substandard working conditions. Scores of people working in such areas face challenges such as overstaffing, hazardous working environments, too much labor, and underpayment. Relocating jobs to them is a relief since they can overcome the majority of challenges.

Works Cited

Cusumano, Michael A. "Is Google's alphabet a good bet?" Communications of the ACM 60.1 (2016): 22-25.

Glowik, Mario. "4.5 Case study: Alphabet." Global Strategy in the Service Industries: Dynamics, Analysis, Growth (2017): 139.

Ledenyov, Dimitri, and Viktor Ledenyov. "Quantum strategy synthesis by Alphabet Inc." (2016).

Rocha, Mariana. Corporate Credit Report of Alphabet Inc. Diss. 2017.