Andrew Carnegies Defense: The Gospel Of Wealth

Andrew Carnegies Defense: The Gospel Of Wealth During the Industrial Revolution, several changes shaped American society. Inventions such as the railroad and electricity contributed to the massive change in American life. A movement from the rural farms to the industrial cities and factory owners desire to maximize profit and minimize cost started the battle between laborers and large capitalist bosses. Throughout this era, daring entrepreneurs such as John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, J.P. Morgan, and the Vanderbilt family helped shape the economy, and became known as the robber barons, because of their ruthless treatment of workers and underhanded business deals. Through their economic and political leverage, they accumulated massive amounts of wealth and had enormous influence. Robber barons utilized their wealth in a variety ways, such as purchasing extravagant mansions or hosting wasteful parties. However in the article Wealth, unlike the other millionaires of the Gilded Age, Andrew Carnegie encouraged fellow cap italists to live humbly and use their excess capital to assist the unfit poor, but only because he felt that the millionaires were most qualified to help. In Wealth, Carnegie argues that the fit and wise rich men of American must be the ones who distribute the wealth because they have the essential skills to do so. He emphasizes that millionaire class, to which he belonged, is very skilled and elevates their status in society with his self-praising writing. For example he says, their talent for organization and management is rare among men and this talent, secures for its possessor enormous rewards, no matter where or under what laws or conditions.  [1]  The rich are again represented as greater than the poor by having superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer [wealth].  [2]  They are shown to have skills are unique and rare allowing them to do amazing things in all aspects of life-an indomitable group of people who can solve any problem. This resembles the widespread doctrine of social Darwinism, because if a person is fit by being skilled, it is natural that they will succeed and survive. Carnegie wrote that it i s because of their skill that only they must be responsible for the control and distribution of their wealth. While Carnegie elevates the richs image and portrays them as superior beings, he describes the poor as foolish, impudent, and unskilled. Throughout the text, Carnegie argued that it must be the rich classs responsibility to guide the poor, because their class can do for them better than they would or could do for themselves since the poor are, slothful, the drunken, the unworthy.  [3]  Carnegie demonstrates the unfit, foolish, lazy, and ignorant workers and laborers as the foils of the fit, skilled, wise, and hardworking millionaires. According to social Darwinism and Carnegies article, the poor at the bottom of society deserve to be there, because they are unfit and failed take advantages of their situation and earn millions of dollars, like the capitalists. By emphasizing the differences between the rich and poor, Carnegies article illustrates the prevailing belief of social Darwinism. Wealth was published during 1889 an era when public believed in the theory of social Darwinism. This belief stemmed from Charles Darwins theory of evolution and Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner used the popular catchwords of Darwinism, struggle for existence and survival of the fittest [and] applied [them] to the life of man in society  [4]  . Indeed Carnegie uses these terms in his article, as he says the law [of competition]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦insures the survival of the fittest in every department.  [5]  By applying Darwins biological theory to man and society, the fittest or strongest members of society should be at the top and lead society, while the weak, unfit should be on the bottom and allowed to suffer and die out. This is echoed in Carnegies article as the millionaires should have all the control and power of their wealth, while the poor must be changed and learn to be fit or be left to die out. Successful business and entrepreneurs apparently accepted almost by instinct the Darwinian terminology which seemed to portray the conditions of their existence.  [6]  For example, as a child Carnegie had to support his family and by taking advantage of the situations provided to him. By doing so, he was able to own the biggest and most successful steel industry. In his article, a businessmans success and money are rewards of being fit, while the poors lack of money is a symbol of their failure in society. By presenting the rich and poor as skilled and unskilled, wise and foolish, Carnegie is able to justify that the rich were the only ones who were knowledgeable enough to share and keep their wealth. Carnegie arrogantly says that, this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if distributed in small sums to the people themselves.  [7]  The few or the rich should must have the money, because they will be able to properly distribute it to the poor. If the people themselves obtained this money, they would not have as grand a result as the millionaires. In his article, Carnegie needed to defend their immense accumulation of wealth, before explaining the more efficient methods of helping the poor. During this era, there was a huge economic gap between the rich and poor. In 1890, 73 percent of the nations wealth was held by the top 10 percent of the population.  [8]  This disproportionate distribution of money caused the laborers and poor to see the wealthy and business as evil and millionaires as corrupt robber barons stealing their money. This distrust was inflamed by the immense differences in living conditions of each class. While millionaires lived comfortably in extravagant, laborers and factory workers lived in dirty and disease filled slums. However, in Wealth Carnegie attempts to bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship  [9]  and provides a humble interpretation of the rich as they are just a the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren.  [10]  He wishes to have peace between the two classe s and portrays the rich as helpful caretakers of poor. In their crusade in helping the poor become fit, the rich must have control over their capital in order to help them. Carnegie states that they would provide them with ladders upon which the aspiring can rise free libraries, parks, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ works of art,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and public institutions of various kinds.  [11]  He wanted to provide resources to those who will help themselves, just as he had brought himself up from working in a factory to owner of a steel factory. However, he would not just hand out money to the poor, because they would use it foolishly.  [12]  By providing with poor with these institutions, Carnegie hoped that they would learn how become fit and become more like the refined and educated millionaires. Even if the rich has so much, they should be willing to return some of their resources in the form of libraries and other services to assist the poor. By explaining that their wisdom and wealth will be used to assist the poor, the wealthy are given a legitimate reason to keep all their money and continue with the laissez-faire system of government. Even though Carnegie felt he provided the poor with ladders to success. The poor had no time to take advantage of them. As the wealthy obtained an immense amount of money, most of the population suffered in poverty. The poor had to work in dangerous factories in long 12 hour work days. After a day of hard work, laborers would barely make enough money to eat as Carnegies steel workers earned from $1.50 to $2.00 per day. While a family in the Pittsburg area needed $15 a week to live, most workers made less than $12.50.  [13]  Even if factory workers wanted to go to the local library they had no time or energy to do so. During this time, the wealthy were really not focused on relieving the needy with handouts. Carnegie felt that just giving foolish man money would cause him to spend it recklessly. He wanted to help the poor become more like the rich by providing them with the resources which would teach them how to be fit and if the poor really wanted to advance themselves, they wou ld go to a library and learn the skills necessary to do so. Given the circumstances, this would be unlikely, but Carnegie still proposes that this is a viable option, as he really does not know how the poor live. Since the government practiced laissez-faire politics which ensured that the government would stay away from business affairs, businessmen had full control over their finances and factories. If the government did interfere, they could only do so to benefit business, specifically those of the robber barons. Andrew Carnegies article Wealth supported this hands-off policy on business. As an article which drew heavily on the beliefs of social Darwinism, lack of government action would be beneficial to the evolution of society. The law of competition is not only beneficial, but essential to the future progress of the race and competition between these [businesses], as being not only beneficial, but essential to the future progress of the race.  [14]  Carnegie and many other businessmen believed that businesses should be free to compete against each other and that the government should stay out the way. If the government would get involved, they would only do so to protect competition between businesses. According to social Darwinism, competition would destroy the weak, leave only the fit in society. Thus, the skilled fit that remain are able to advance society and harvest their rewards. If the government created regulation that hindered competition between businesses, competition would be destroyed, and society would not be able to move forward. Therefore, any disruption or attempts to hinder the law of competition or defend the unfit were not allowed by the business owners. As Irvin Wyllie states in the article Social Darwinism and the Businessman, Herbert Spencer became the oracle of the age à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in defense of laissez-faire as he applied the idea of evolution and completion to society.  [15]  Social Darwinisms law of competition became a bulwark for a government which did not interfere with businesses and left workers with despicable work conditions. In Wealth, Andrew Carnegie use of the law of competition to support the laissez-faire image of g overnment helped protect the businessmens interest. In Wealth, Carnegie also supported millionaires decision to fight against unions desires. Due to the harsh conditions in factories, low wages, long workdays, and lack of help from the government, unions like the Knights of Labor formed in an attempt to obtain a shorter workday and better working conditions for workers. Eight work days and higher wages would increase the bottom line and lessen the businessmans profit causing create deal of resistance from businessmen. Unfit laborers are portrayed by social Darwinism and Wealth as lazy and deserving of their suffering giving the idea that factory owners do not need listen to them. In Wealth, the wealthy are portrayed as all-knowing, as they know the best interests of the race.  [16]  Indeed, in this era, millionaires found unions to be hindrances to their companies and had the full support of federal government in stopping them. By emphasizing that the poor are unworthy, lazy, and ignorant and the wealthy knew what they were doing, Wealth defended why millionaires disliked unions and did everything they could to stop them. Andrew Carnegies article, Wealth, was a result of prevailing belief of social Darwinism in the Gilded Age. The rhetoric of Spencer and Sumners view of social Darwinism are apparent in his work and though this belief, Carnegie is able to say that the rich were the most capable group of people to hold and distribute the wealth. Through his ingrained belief of social Darwinism, he was also able to defend the wealths large accumulation of wealth, the laissez-faire government, and their aggression toward labor unions found during the Industrial era. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) | Free essay | Management essays Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) | Free essay | Management essays Introduction KFC in the beginning was changing companies which belonged, since in 1964 Colonel Sanders first sold KFC. It was sold in a small group of investors who promoted KFC in public. In 1971 Heublein was highly involved in the day to day operations. However, R.J. Reynolds then acquired Heublein in 1982. R.J. took a more laid back approach and allowed business as usual at KFC. After that in 1986 PepsiCo bought this company and tried to grow it very fast and as well the restaurant segment even if KFC and PepsiCo had a very different culture and style which means that it was totally different. PepsiCo is a big company which recognized itself in 1985 and owns as well Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and now KFC. PepsiCo has a consumer product orientation and found that the marketing of fast food was very similar to the marketing of its soft drinks and snack foods. PepsiCo combines snack food, soft drinks and restaurants together and its a huge company in the world with many restaurants. Nowadays KFC belongs to YUM international and is the largest chicken restaurant in the world with over 32,500 restaurants with, AW All-American Foodâ„ ¢, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers and Pizza Hut in more than 100 countries. Today, some of the older KFC restaurants have become famous in their own right. One such restaurant is located in Marietta, Georgia. This store is notable for a 17m tall sign that looks like a chicken. The sign, known locally as the Big Chicken, was built for an earlier fast-food restaurant on the site called Johnny Rebs Chick, Chuck and Shake. It is often used as a travel reference point in the Atlanta area by locals and pilots. The original handwritten recipe is kept locked away at the KFC corporate headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky as a closely-guarded secret. Only two members within the Yum! Corporation knows the recipe in its entirety. Mission and Objectives we find reasons to celebrate the achievements of others and have fun doing it The mission of the KFC is to sell food in a fast ,to have a friendly environment that appeals to pride conscious, to be in a health minded consumers. The objectives of KFC is to increase the variety of menu, to introduce desert menu and introduce buffet to restaurants. Another objective goal is to target Menu items of African Americans in major cities with the following foods: greens, macaroni and cheese, peach cobbler, red beans and rice. However there are also menu items which should be target in Hispanics major cities are the fried plantains, flan, tres Leches. The implementations on non-traditional units are including the shopping mall food courts, universities, hospitals, airports, stadiums, amusement parks, office buildings, mobile units. Pest analysis Political UK Government has launched a new corporate tax scheme in April 2008, in which the tax is to decrease from 30% down to 28%, helping revive the economy and boost competition (BBC, 2008, p.1). Fast food companies like McDonalds, KFC, etc. could save millions of pounds from this stimulus. The Government is considering a proposed ban on junk food advertising to billboards, computer games and cinemas act in the face of the public health of child obesity. A blanket ban would be a hammer blow to companies such as KFC, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Nestle, etc. (Mintel, 2009m, p.1) Economic As a result of the credit crunch and market instability, global markets are in disarray, deleveraging is under way (Kohler, 2009, p.27). The UK economy is now challenged by serious economic downturn. Latest Indicators published by Office for National Statistics (2009, p.1) states that all indexes are at negative interpretation, such as unemployment rate increased, GDP and national productivity decreased. The UK is heavily impacted by the economic downturn. Hickman (2007, p.1) argues that the era of spend, spend, and spend no longer exists. Britain shoppers habit of depending on credit cards is now forced to change. They have to cut back their expenditure since credit availability would be now a historic concept. Social Work mobility, working under pressure seems to force people to go out to eat and drink rather than cook at home for themselves (although this trend is moderated by credit crunch recently). People enjoy their spare time by spending hours in coffee stores, restaurants, cinemas, and fast foods are indispensable items in their orders. Bird and Hughes (1997, p.159) state that consumer is more and more concerning for ethical products. They are not only paying attention to products quality, but also ethical aspects of the goods purchased. This raises a question to all businesses, however, it is also an opportunity for those who care of their customers, their communities, like KFC, for instant. Customers concern about environmental issues in every item they buy (Mintel, 2009p, p.1). Environmental concerns are now a key priority among UK consumers and their importance is continuing to grow. Consumer concerns are encouraging retailers to introduce green products and to put their entire operations on a greener footing (Mintel, 2009c, p.1) Consumers may be increasingly turning to chicken outlets as a relatively healthy alternative to red meat, particularly on the back of recent government and health campaigners concerns over the nutritional content of fast food (Mintel, 2009a4, p.1) Attitudes towards burgers are changing. Burgers are no longer seen as should-be-avoid foods, but are positive ones instead (Mintel, 2009d, p.1). In addition, microwaveable burgers have been welcomed to serve a new snack-on-the-go audience (Mintel, 2009d, p.1). Technological and environmental issues The Internet is changing the way that many businesses are operating (Avinash and Minh, 2008, p.83). The Internet accounts for 8% of global advertising spend and growing rapidly (The Economist, 2007, p.124). It is an opportunity for fast food companies enabling its customers to order online easily via its website, creating competitive advantage for the company. Technology helps to shorten the geographic distance, booting business communication. Technology also helps to design and manufacture modern machines to produce high quality foods, saving time and human capital. Global warming, green house gas, recyclable materials are among most interests of environmental supporters. Swot analysis Strengths KFC has a very long history and has the most recognizable brand in chicken. KFC has name recognition around the world and has been globally positioned for many years. KFCs secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices has made it the leader in chicken for the last fifty years. KFC is the 2nd only to McDonalds in the UK and USA and ranks highest among all chicken restaurant chains for its convenience and menu variety. The quality of food is a key strength to KFC. The quality is defined by the YUM! and controlled by the local franchisees. There is a global standard, with regard to the quality of the KFC meals. The KFC recipes allow for quick a processing time, which makes it all the more convenient and more attractive to prospective clients. Customer-focused approach brings advantages to KFC. The company cares about the health of its customers. Recently, in 2008, KFC signs up to the Food Standards Agency commitment to providing healthier meals, helping its customers enjoy a healthier, more balanced diet. The commitments include: working with suppliers to reduce salt and saturated fat levels, dressings and frying oils for alternatives that are lower in saturated fat, increasing the number of healthier options on the menu and making nutritional information more readily available to customers (Mintel, 2009l). The company also puts nutritional information of its products online and in stores. KFC does business ethically and environmentally. KFC UK has promised to reduce packaging and waste by selling products such as its Fillet and Zinger burgers just wrapped into paper rather than in a cardboard box. The chain said it aimed to reduce waste by up to 14000 tonnes over 2009 (Mintel, 2009p). KFC has a strong development plan. In February 2009, KFC announced to open 300 new UK outlets between 2009 and 2014, creating 9,000 jobs. This expansion was designed to capitalise on really strong growth and customers increasingly turning to cheaper food options amid the credit crunch (Mintel, 2009q). Weaknesses Rumour: There is a rumour about using GMO chicken (Genetic Modification Organism). This arouses a great controversy in many places. For a developed market like the UK, this impacts negatively on KFC image since people think that the use of GM chicken will have great influence on the food chain which is very crucial to the environmental health and nature development. Legal issues: KFC has been ordered to pay a  £24,000 fine following the discovery of poor hygiene standards at its Bridgend branch in South Wales. The branchs staff did not wash their hands and wore dirty aprons, while the sites hot water was turned off, meaning that staff were also unable to wash food preparation equipment (Mintel, 2009k). Trans fats issues: KFC predominantly cooks its chicken in vegetable oil called trans fats, an unhealthy method of cooking (Oppapers, 2009). Lacking fun: Since majority of KFCs customers are people between 14 and 44, who are young, dynamic, and proactive, store decoration and atmosphere play a critical role for the companys success. Lack of knowledge about their customers: KFC does not have its own customer database. Opportunities The chicken and burger bar market reached  £3.6 billion in 2007 and is predicted to rise following years. The traditional low-cost fast food outlets are well placed to remain relevant as economic conditions tighten. The burger market reached nearly  £2.5 billion 2007 whereas chicken outlets were valued at nearly  £1 billion, however, the latter showed higher growth rates over the past six years. The takeaway market continues to outperform the eat-in sector (Mintel, 2009z). Despite the economic downturn, consumers are still likely to continue eating out, according to a survey of 1,000 UK diners by Survey Shack. 63% said price wasnt the major factor influencing whether they chose to eat out or not, and 77% said they would pay more if a meal was made from high-quality ingredients (Mintel, 2009y). Grab-and-go culture: The convenience of takeaway meals has a clear demographic bias towards men, younger consumers and those who are single. Factors such as lack of motivation to worry too much about nutrition (eg the absence of children) or that it is expensive or wasteful to cook for one-person meals will play a part in this motivation (Mintel, 2009c). Growth in the 15-24-year-old age group has benefited the chicken/burger sector as they represent the core market, however, the predicted drop in 15-19-year-olds in coming years will present challenges (Mintel, 2009a1). Threats Supermarkets and new competitors: Supermarkets own-label offerings have long been a significant part of the UK food sales, holding a share of nearly 29% and continuing growth in market share (Mintel, 2009a). The National Minimum Wage (adults now receive  £5.52 an hour) continues to have an impact on the fast food market. These increases can have a major effect on the cost base of the larger chicken and burger bar operators, particularly when you consider KFC has some 8,000 employees in the UK (Mintel, 209b). The introduction of the Licensing Act 2003 (for England and Wales) in 2005 has led to many pubs having extended opening hours, generating further competition for fast-food chains, both in terms of the later nights and daytime trade (Mintel, 2009b). Health trend away from fried foods: According to campaign group Consensus Action On Salt and Health, some meals from top fast food chains conceal shockingly high salt levels. The worst contain more than double a childs recommended daily salt intake in a single meal. Customers react negatively to this news (Mintel, 2009x) Recent survey by Mintel (2009) states that growth in fast food industry has slowed in recent years. It implies of an intense competition in the eating out market and the maturing of the. BCG MATRIX KFC uses large amounts of cash and is leader in the business so since it is a leader it should use a large amount of cash. The company has the worst cash characteristics of all, because there are high demands and low returns due to low market share. If there is not market share, question marks will simply take in great amounts of cash and when the growth will stop then there will be a dog. CASH COW Profits and cash generation should be high, and because of the low growth, investments were low. Keep profits high DOGS KFC should avoid and minimize the dogs in the company. As I mentioned before the BCG Matrix of KFC is depending totally from the YAM! Company which includes as well the other companies the referent standard is the industry growth rate measured against the SBUs growth rate. Product life cycle All the products have their life cycle whether it is very successful or not. The life cycle has four stages. The first stage is the introduction of the product and such an example will be the hot wings. The second stage is the growth of the product and the product is the hot shots. The third stage is the maturity and the product is zinger, chicken mania, chicken burger. And the fourth stage is the decline which is the twister. Task environment My company diversified in many industries and for each industry has different suppliers. It audits its suppliers for compliance and non compliance. Kentucky Fried Chicken Garcia, Augie. Discussions, March 12, 1999 www.scribd.com applied marketing Mr. Muhammad Nouman BBC (2008). Call for corporate tax clampdown. Available at http://news.bbc.co. uk/1/hi /uk_politics/7681165.stm. Accessed 3 January 2009 Mintel (2009m). Proposed banned on junk food advertising could be extended. Available online at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/display/id=118422/display/id=218594 Accessed 07 March 2009 Office for National Statistics (2009). Latest indicators. Available online at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/instantfigures.asp. Accessed 09 March 2009 Hickman M. (2007): First the credit crunch now the spending squeeze, The Independent on Sunday (2007) Thursday, 13 September 2007. Bird K and Hughes D. (1997). Ethical Consumerism: The Case Of Fairly-Traded Coffee. Business Ethics A European Review Volume 6 Issue 3,Pages159-167 Mintel (2009p). KFC reduces packaging. (27/1/2009). Available online at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/showset_access_filter=all-ZUK/display/id=280379/display/id=227776/display/id=438171. Accessed 08 March 2009 Mintel (2009c). Internal market environment. Available online at http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/subject/view=reports_categorylevels=90849list=cat_itemscat=17lev=1/display/id=394656/display/id=442497. Accessed 07 March 2009. Mintel (2009a4). Chicken and Burger Bar UK March 2008: Market in brief. Available online at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic//display/id=280379/display/id=329487. Accessed 07 March 2009 Mintel (2009d). Burgers UK 2008. Available online at http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/my_reports/display/id=227787anchor=atom/display/id=227776. Accessed 07 March 2009 Avinash, W. and Minh. Q. H. (2008) How Can Internet Service Providers Tap into the Potentially-Lucrative Small Business Market? International Journal of E-Business Research, 4(1), p.82-98 The Economist (2007). The world in figures: industries. The world in 2008. p124, 126.