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DA7. Building Campus in Inner City vs Suburbs or Country

Statement

Please read the case study “A New Slice of the Apple?” from chapter 10 of the Business ethics textbook that you find in the reading assignment.

Based on what you have learned in this unit, answer the following questions:

What ethical issues arise when a company decides to build its business in the inner city versus building its business in the suburbs or country?

Answer

Business culture, ethics, or practices have changed over time with hypes or trends come and go; however, each of these changes has consequences on various aspects of the business, society, and the environment. The case study mentioned in the problem statement from Byars & Stanberry (2018) considers Apple as an example and features one of these changes where companies decide to take their campuses outside city centers to the suburbs or country.

The move towards the suburbs or country usually helps in reducing real estate costs, increasing space available for workers, branding the company with a cutting-edge campus, and providing a better environment for employees. Such moves have effects on both city and suburban societies and the employees themselves. There are various ethical issues arise and the text below discusses some of them:

  • Suburbs may not be ready as most of the employees are outsiders, which may lack the amenities and infrastructure to support the newcomers in terms of public transport, restaurants, local businesses, and other services. This is usually solved by the campus providing all of these services.
  • Local businesses may be hurt as the campus provides most of the services and amenities; there is little left to the local businesses in the suburbs; the movement of people also hurts the businesses in the city as there are fewer people to buy their products.
  • Creation of a monopsony or corporate towns as the campus provides everything and local businesses are not able to compete with them. The diversity and quality of the provided services may also decline as there is no competition.
  • Shift of traffic from the city to the suburbs may reduce the congestion in the city; but increase the number of miles driven by the employees, which may have environmental consequences. This also increases the pressure on the public transport system in the suburbs while making the city public transport system less efficient.
  • The effect on the environment is mixed; on one hand, the empty spaces in the suburbs make it easier to plan and build sustainable and environmentally friendly campuses; on the other hand, the shift of traffic may increase gas emissions.

With all the positive and negative effects of moving to the suburbs; some argue that the move is a way to trap employees more into the company’s campus and give them little reasons to leave so they can work more. Personally, I support the movement to the suburbs as updating the city to be more convenient for the workers is too expensive and may not be feasible; however, there should be laws that prevent corporate towns and support local businesses.

References