Greed is Good?

Well of course it’s beneficial to yourself to be greedy. But is it beneficial to the people around you? When I think of the word greedy, I immediately think of children. There’s always that one kid who hoards all the toys. Sure, he gets to play with all the cool stuff, but how do all the other kids around him feel? It’s safe to say that he’s not the most popular person in the class. Which leads to an entirely different question, is it more important to have all the toys, or to have friends? That can be easily related back to businesses. Sure you can make a lot of money, but if you don’t give back and are greedy, you might not have the important business relationships that are necessary to survive. In class today we were talking about returns to a store. Yes, a company has to take back defective or damaged merchandise, but they don’t have to take something back just because you don’t want it any more. They do this though to form good business relationships with their customers. If they were driven completely by greed though, they would not take unwanted merchandise back. Yes, they would keep that money on that sale, but chances are they lost any future business with that customer. “While a merchant might prefer to sell for cash with no return privilege, if the seller’s competitors are willing to allow prospective customers a trial period or the right of return, the seller must also do so to remain competitive.” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo. Pg 216) Short term, they keep their money, but in the long term they end up losing business.

It also goes back to previous discussions that we had about ethics and morals. “Morals are concerned with behavior as judged by society.” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo. Pg 19). It makes me wonder if there is a way to be wealthy and successful while being ethical and sticking to your personal moral code. Would I love to be rich? Of course, but would I rather have the respect of my peers and associates? Absolutely, and I think in the end, that will make me more successful.