VISA: Bottom line vs proud and loyal customers

When I last checked, Visa was a for-profit company, had to beat its competitors and needed to maximize ROI from its London Olympics sponsorship investment. No company can have a healthy bottomline without customers - proud and loyal or otherwise. Addison Lee who? 

Ketharaman,

It's not about unhealthy bottom line, it's about attitude (e.g. social responsibility). Profitability can be achieved in many ways. Are you OK with child labour? I don't think so. Why not? Because it's not right. "Simples!"

As for Addison Lee, it's not about "who". It's about "what" and "why". A taxi company raising fares during a major event would not cause a stir. In fact, many consumers these days would expect that to happen. Yet Addison Lee chose not to abuse the situation (and forgo extra profit that would have gone straight to the bottom line) - why do you think they made that decision?

Have a look at the "corporate life expectancy" link in my blog post on Bango - it provides a very good explanation why profit should be a secondary concern if you want to build a great company.

Child labor is illegal, not just anti-social. If banishing non-Visa from London Olympics is similarly illegal, Visa should be stopped and I'm sure it will be stopped. But, that doesn't seem to be the case. Most business owners need their companies to be profitable first. If their companies also become great, it's, well, great. Honestly, I don't know why Addison Lee made the decision to forgo the extra profits. The 'who' does matter - maybe Addison Lee doesn't have to answer to shareholders or keep a watch on its share price every quarter? Visa and most other listed companies don't have that luxury. 

Ketharaman,

Perhaps we should continue our discussion in private as we are deviating somewhat off the subject.

If child labour was legal (it still is a "custom" in some countries), would it be OK to use it? Use the reply to that question in respect of Visa. Just to re-iterate, there are many ways to make shareholders happy, customers loyal and potential customers proud.

This article reinforces what I've been saying, namely, that Visa is doing what all sponsors are entitled to do, and have always been doing, according to their sponsorship agreements; also that the "...(OFT) is currently looking into this matter along with the European Commission. They are in discussion together concerning these issues and are going to make a decision concerning what action, if any, should be taken." I'll await that decision and then decide whether there's any merit in continuing this discussion - whether online or offline.