1.

Why is transparency important to the long-term health of a company?

Through Wikipedia, transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to

see what actions are performed. Being transparent is sharing, to whatever extent possible, facts
about the company include how it is set up, how it operates, what its salaries and bonuses are
based on, and how its workers are expected to treat customers and each other. In its simplest
sense, transparency means clear, unhindered honesty in the way that the company runs.
Transparency plays an important role to the long-term health of a company to survive in
todays fast-changing world. Firstly, transparency helps a company to engender greater trust
among its customer. Zig ziglar has been quoted as saying, if people like you, they will listen to
you, but if they trust you, theyll do business with you. Customer trust is the key to repeat
business. For example, Chipotle, a large restaurant chain in North America and Europe has
earned greater trust among its customers by clearly listing all ingredients for its menu items
includes genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to its consumers. Transparency has not affect
the company sales. However, it helps the company earn greater consumer trust.
Next, transparency strengthen partnership. No cross-sector partnership can truly get off
the ground until each side has put all its cards on the table, stating clearly what it can provide to
the business and specifically what it expects to gain from it. As you become more transparent,
the strength of the partnership increases. Youre willing to give more and of course your partner
is willing to give more back. The partner sees clear, well-thought-out objectives that are
beneficial to their efforts, they will work hard to meet goals.
Furthermore, transparency means trust by public. In old saying, trust is hard won and easily lost.
For example, Tylenolthe market-leading headache pill in U.S. survived following the deaths

of seven people in 1982 from poisoned Tylenol capsules through immediate transparency. The
company immediately got in front of the issue, ordering a recall of all its products, warning
customers should not use its products, and setting up a hotline to answer questions. Eventually
the company devised new, tamper-free bottles, in caplet form, and regained its market share.
Lastly, transparency is important in company morale. In a transparent company,
employees know what is happening in the company and why. They feel more involved. For
example, Credit Karma is a mission-driven business, bringing transparency to the credit system
and empowering consumers. A big part of its culture is having an internal sense of transparency
between management and employees. Ken Lin, who is the founder of Credit Kama, said, when
you remove the feeling that people only need to know the information directly relating to their
work, you reduce division between the different ends of the corporate ladder.

2.

Is transparency more important in some industries than in others? Explain.

Todays culture is crowded and competitive. There are countless new businesses

sprouting up every day. The majority of them dont make it. If you want your new enterprise to
grow and be successful, it just might benefit you to share more information with the general
public that includes potential investors, employees, customers, you name it. The more people
know, the greater interest they might take in getting involved.
Transparency is everything now. People like to see, touch, feel and with Envestnet,
they can. Everythings there, including their outside assets.

Kevin Burns

To answer the question above, from the view of the public, yes, some industries need
higher transparency. To explain this statement, we take food industry and music industry as
example.
Food industry is a high demand industry. No matter what is going on in the world, we
need foods to survive. Therefore, it is extremely important for consumer to understand clearly
about food industry. The more you expose to the public, the more they trust you.
One of the food company, Kelloggs said, More than ever, people want to know what's in their
food, how it's made and what companies are doing to contribute to a better world. We want to
earn a seat at peoples breakfast tables by opening up and showing how were working to make
their mornings better.
On the other hand, musical industry does not need such transparency. The public has been
listening music for years but never wonder how musical industry works or operate. How many
layers do they have from licensing to song writing to singing from the singer? Why are the
concerts ticket so expensive?

Obviously majority of the public didnt raise these questions. This shows that
transparency in this industry is not as important as food industry. This does not mean they do not
need any transparency, but from the view of a customer, is it not that important.
The comparison of food industry and musical industry can only state out importance of
transparency to the public.
Markets need information to function well. Shareholders need information to judge the
quality of their investment. In the absence of disclosure and openness, bounded rationality leads
to behavioral patterns such as "follow the leader", herding, acting on partial information and
assumptions, etc., which can lead to contagion and market dislocations. Transparency is thus an
important element to the efficient functioning of markets.
From the above paragraph, we are clear that, consumers and public need details and clear
information about your company and your products, same goes to the shareholders and workers
in the company, they need transparency as well. Publics demand for transparency depends on
the demand of the industry, but for shareholders, workers and owners of the company, no matter
what field is it, they are always important.
They will know exactly how all their investments are allocated, how they are doing and
the fees in which they are paying. Even novice investors can see their portfolios total value in a
second. Others want a deeper perspective, and with Envestnet they get itall the data theyre
looking for, exactly the way they want it.
If everything made clear to the workers of the company, they will be very clear with things on
going in the company. This will lead them to accomplish the task according to the target of the
company, and they will be familiar with the operations in the company.

3. Do customers really care about the transparency of the companies with which they do
business? How can we know whether customers care about transparency?
Yes, customers do really care about the transparency of the companies with which they
do business. Transparency is really an expansion of the idea of quality, as markets and consumers
have evolved. Customers equate transparency with a full roster of social, environmental and
labor standards, which they expect to be able to get their hands on to read for themselves.
There are some examples that we can know that customers care about transparency. First
and foremost, transparency empower the consumer to take control of their buying decisions
unlike ever before. When customers make purchases, they want to know their decisions are good
for their family and align with personal or charitable interests. Trust cant be bought, it must be
earned. Customers want to understand exactly what they are buying, and rightly deserve the
knowledge they seek.
Besides, transparency is customer relations also helps to improve customer service.
Customers can let companies know what they are doing right and what they should do better
through transparency. Making such feedback public and taking them in to account makes
customers feel like they are being heard and being valued. Customers that feel wanted are the
ones who keep coming back to the company since everyone likes to be among friends.
Furthermore, transparency will inspire the customers to trust the companies when they
see that the companies do not try to make the business seem better than it really is. No one likes
to be lied or to be fooled. Customers are smart, they know when the companies are being up
front or when they are told an untruth. Customers will appreciate and admire the companies more

when the companies admit to a mistake made, rather than playing games or even worse, avoiding
the topic altogether.
As a chain business enterprise, the company is committed to build an interactive customer
relationship, so as to obtain advantage of customer value .
1. Zero distance service
As a chain, in most cases will directly face the customer, and customer form a zero distance of
communication.This time is even more should pay attention to their service quality, in order to
give customers a good impression.General will efforts from the following three aspects:
(1) to shorten the time of service;
(2) increasing the frequency of active service;
(3) establish an effective mechanism of customer feedback.
2. To strengthen the customer trust to us
In customer relationship management , there is a very important term customer loyalty.Which is
based on the customer to trust through the enterprise long-term service performance, so much so
that even if there are multiple vendors to choose from, the customer still willing, as always,
continue to cooperate with you.Customer trust, is a business organized as part of a brand value.
In a nutshell, to implement transparency effectively, companies should be honest instead of
trying to hide or cover up the errors because every customer has the right to know the
information relating to them.

4. What steps can a company take to let customers know that it is committed to
transparency? How can the company publicize such an effort?
Transparency means you tell the truth, you dont sugar coat bad news, and you pay
people fairly in accordance with their contribution, says Stever Robbins, an executive and
personal coach and top 10 business podcaster. It has been defined simply as "the perceived
quality of intentionally shared information from a sender". Some companies think open floor
plans, monthly staff meetings, and detailed reports equate to transparency. But these are just
logistics: transparency needs to be core to company values. Transparency requires both great
technology and a company culture centred on openness. This will result in increased productivity
and trust.
Firstly, a company can be transparent with own corporate objective and then give
updates. For examples, let people know that you're trying to find a new supplier in order to take
your quality to another level, and ask for their help. Besides, instil transparency matters into a
companys culture, because it builds trust and stronger relationships between employees,
management and the company itself. Keeping everyone in the loop leads to more collaboration
and shared learning, greater creativity, faster problem-solving and ultimately improved
performance. Most important, it keeps leaders honest. Its hard to hold an out-of-whack
perspective if theres an abundance of open information pointing in a different direction.
On the other hand, we could say that, the way you treat your employees will be mirrored in the
way your employees treat your customers. Treat your employees poorly and theyll pass that
treatment along to your customers. Transparency sometimes requires opening up what can seem
like a floodgate of information and data for public viewing. But providing access isnt always
enough. When youre offering a clear view across departments, the sheer volume of information

or industry slang can be intimidating and often debilitating for peers in different functions. Its
critical to provide context, commentary and clarity around what this information actually means
for different people.
In addition, better products or services will be produced through transparency. For example,
companies often experience an improvement in their products or services because employees are
encouraged to speak their mind about whats going on, rather than hold back. This is especially
important in start-up environments, because you need everyone to come to the table with the best
ideas and solutions. In turn, employers respect this feedback and take appropriate action where
they can and as often as needed to keep the company on the right course.
People are the number one asset of any business, and without great people, companies are less
equipped to do great things. If a company is willing to publicize this transparency effort, it must
focus to people. A company should never, ever break a promise, even an implied promise. It
must take full responsibility for the actions and help those around do the same. In the same time,
build trust to others. If no one is speaking up or saying anything negative, its not because youre
doing a good job; its probably because theyre scared to speak up, Robbins says. So start
building one-on-one trust with people in the hopes of drawing them out.
Instead of being scared by transparency, businesses should embrace it as way to improve service
and increase customer loyalty. Transparency is an open, honest and direct communication with
co-workers, business associates and customers.

Bibliography (QUESTION 4)
(2015, September 29). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency_(behavior)
Clark, T. (2014, January 16). Project Management Tips, Tricks & Taik. Retrieved from The
LiquidPlanner Blog: http://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/9-ways-promote-transparencynon-transparent-work-culture/
Hodges, S. (2015, August 22). 4 Ways to Instill and Promote Transparency in a Workplace.
Retrieved from Growthcon2015: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248133
Smith, J. (2013, October 4). How To Create An Authentic And Transparent Work Environment.
Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/10/04/how-tocreate-an-authentic-and-transparent-work-environment/

REFERENCE QUES 2
http://envestnet.com/case-studies/importance-transparency
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/importance-transparency/
REFENCE QUES 1
http://www.inc.com/ken-lin/the-importance-of-transparency-to-company-morale.html
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2009/12/14/governance-integrity-transparencyimportant-development-agenda-mena
http://www.christopherspenn.com/2007/03/transparency-is-the-currency-of-a-trust-relationship/
REFERENCE QUES 3
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/transparency-consumers-care-livechatroundup

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235664

http://corp.yonyx.com/customer-service/transparency-customer-relations/