The Place of Morality and Government in Low Value Product Development :: Economics Economy Business Papers

The Place of Morality and Government in Low Value Product Development A company is fundamentally in business to make money. There are many so called "low value products" that could prove extremely beneficial to a large number of people, but are not likely to be profitable from an economic point of view. This situation creates a complex problem that incorporates economics, morality, private industry, individuals and government. It is always interesting and difficult when big business, government and ethics are thrown together, and this problem is no exception. First, it needs to be established whether the low value product the company is considering developing might not turn a profit, or if it definitely will not be profitable. If there is a reasonable hope that the product is at least a break-even proposition, the company is much more apt to consider it than if it is certainly going to result in the loss of money. All of this, including the moral aspects of the question, has to be understood within the context of economics. A company is simply not going to do something out of the good of "its" heart, just because it is "the right thing to do". A company must be convinced that by investing their time and money into a certain product's development, they will directly or indirectly profit from it. Thus, all incentives aimed at getting a private company to bring a product to market that will benefit the public, must in some way benefit the company. There is certainly a moral obligation for developed countries to at least attempt to assist those of the third world, but the burden may not lie with private industry. Before turning to the issue of how to get private industry to invest in low value products, the role of government needs to be explored. The government's role as a provider of incentives will be explored later, but it's also necessary to look at the possibility of government acting as the lone low value product developer, leaving private business out of it. This can be broken down even further: the governments of underdeveloped and developed countries providing for their own people, or the governments of developed countries providing for the common good of all countries. A government is set-up fundamentally to act for the common good of that nation's people. Thus, the government of a country, whether developed or third world, has a moral obligation to do everything in its power to provide for its people, including prov iding research funding for the development of these low value products.