Since time immemorial, the functioning impetus of every business venture has been to sell a series of services and material commodities for the purposes of attaining several consistent revenue yields – which are subsequently translated into profits with the deduction of all production & delivery expenses (overheads). Modernity, with its systematic consolidation of free market capitalism as the allegedly ‘best’ mode of economic administration and distribution, only sought to entrench this fundamental commercial principle further within the lives of ordinary people.
A Listing of Common ‘Dirty’ Business Tactics
But the post-enlightenment societal reformations (with the bulk of these advances accrued inside the initially Eurocentric western world, and subsequently exported from there to the east) also brought with them their fair share of deplorable business practices – many of which continue to be implemented within official circles to this day.
These include such deplorable practices as:
- price monopolization/fixing & dumping (once regularly engaged in by the Chinese),
- the sale of illicit health substances in the black market (for instantaneous profits),
- arms manufacture and civilian ‘gun enfranchisement’ (an issue of particular concern inside the U.S),
- account auditing discrepancies (to hide certain revenue streams through the employment of misleading statistics/reports),
- And outright instances of commercial blackmail (which are oftentimes pursued in elaborate public lawsuits once uncovered).
All businesses aim to grow both vertically (inside their own industrial niches) as well as horizontally (traversing through other product/service domains), in an effort to become the dominant commercial players within their targeted consumer populations.
Based on this consideration, and on account of the difficulty that is oftentimes experienced when trying to expand one’s commercial interests by adhering strictly to legal & standardized norms of procedure, it is not hard to understand why some key organizational officials (including a certain faction of the venerated ‘higher ups’ who operate from behind the curtain) may choose to resort to such inglorious practices from time to time.
Price Monopolization
All established business entities naturally attempt to attain an unflinching competitive advantage over their industrial peers, and based on their growth & sprawling size considerations, may attempt to fix the market price for a good or service on their terms. This set pricing parameter can continue to ensure a relative margin of profitability for its operations, while at the same time spelling market disaster for newer entrants to the industry.
The overall result of this practice is that the average consumer, as well as small businesses, are both left with little choice than to conform to the products/services portfolio of the price monopolizing company – leading to a stagnation of prices and commodity qualities from improving further.
Another dirty business practice, one that has been regularly employed by the Chinese and certain developing countries with a very cheap labor force, is that of dumping. This entails selling one’s products and services at such a low price (often at the risk of downing initial profits) that the other industrial competitors cannot hope to keep up.
The primary consequence of this tactic, again, is one of lowering aggregate market competition – which does not pan out well for consumers or their larger national economies in the long run.
Sales of Illicit Health Substances/Banned Materials
Oftentimes, struggling brands and companies, in an effort to keep their operations viable, attempt to sell a range of illicit substances such as drugs and banned medications to raise a quick buck. These underhand service provisions are managed behind the scenes, and away from legal scrutiny – and normally depend upon the word of mouth as a public propagation technique.
The widespread sale of guns to the public, with little regard for their hazardous implications for the society as a whole (something that has been vividly demonstrated in the case of the U.S, which has lately experienced deadly school shootings on a repeated basis), is a vivid real-life exemplar of this concern.
In many countries, national governments have attempted to scale down on the sales of these items through stringent legislations; with many established companies pushing back (through their elaborate and well-funded lobbying initiatives) against these legal enforcements in an attempt to keep the proverbial ‘noose around their necks’ loose.
Intentional Accounting Malpractice
These days, it comes about as a very common business occurrence for company accountants (be they part of the organizational employee portfolio, or contracted in remote capacities) to be involved in embezzling large sums of money through cleverly tinkering with profit audit reports. These ‘numbers’ professionals manage to do this by simply citing misleading figures within their accounting journals, in an attempt to ‘hide’ certain revenue streams from senior administrative officials or government scrutiny.
The conjoined concerns of tax evasion & sales fraud come about as some of the more notorious corollaries of this issue.
The company, in consequence, ends up gradually ‘leaking money’ through the unchecked continuation of these thieving working professionals in office – something which leads to affected organizations’ gradually losing out on their justified profit shares.
Commercial Blackmail
Commercial Blackmail includes all willfully-engaged business practices where one commercial entity is involved in threatening another, or its consumer demographic base at large, with price hikes or supply shortages. Such strategic policies are aimed at reducing the bargaining power of their customers, who may subsequently be forced to attain the concerned companies’ goods & services at the fixed prices demanded for them.
This issue, when considered holistically, is covered in large part under the business malpractice of ‘price monopolization’ detailed above.
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