Business in American
President Coolidge’s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today- that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organizations, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since most Americans see competition as the major source of progress and prosperity, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one,all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers’ dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the idea of equality of opportunity.Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege.
美國(guó)的商業(yè)
柯立芝總統(tǒng)曾說(shuō)過(guò):“美國(guó)的事就是商業(yè)的事。”這句話如今還在表達(dá)著一個(gè)重要的真理,即在美國(guó)社會(huì)商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)比其他任何機(jī)構(gòu)包括政府,都享有更高的威望。為什么商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)會(huì)有如此高的威望呢?
原因之一是美國(guó)人認(rèn)為商業(yè)是以競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的理想為基礎(chǔ)的,它的立場(chǎng)比社會(huì)其他機(jī)構(gòu)要堅(jiān)定。 由于大部分美國(guó)人把競(jìng)爭(zhēng)看成是進(jìn)步和財(cái)富的主要源泉,提倡競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)自然受到了尊重。競(jìng)爭(zhēng)不僅本身是件好事,而且是保護(hù)個(gè)人自由、機(jī)會(huì)均等、勤奮工作等基本美國(guó)價(jià)值觀的手段。
競(jìng)爭(zhēng)通過(guò)保證沒(méi)有權(quán)力壟斷來(lái)保護(hù)個(gè)人的自由。和一個(gè)權(quán)力至高無(wú)上的政府相比,許多企業(yè)為了利潤(rùn)相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。從理論上講,一個(gè)企業(yè)如果采取不公正的手段欺騙顧客,勢(shì)必會(huì)輸給對(duì)待顧客更為公正的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。只要有很多行業(yè)為賺取顧客的錢而相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng),那么他們就不能把顧客看成低人一等的人或奴隸。
人們還認(rèn)為商業(yè)上的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)還有利于加強(qiáng)機(jī)會(huì)均等的觀念。競(jìng)爭(zhēng)被視為一場(chǎng)公開(kāi)公正的賽跑,成功屬于跑得最快的人,不管勝者的社會(huì)地位和背景如何。通過(guò)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)取得成功被視為美國(guó)人用以取代以家庭背景為基礎(chǔ)的社會(huì)地位的另一種選擇。因此,商業(yè)被視為表達(dá)了機(jī)會(huì)均等這一觀念,而不是特權(quán)世襲的貴族思想。