Question

CASE STUDY

Australian consumers are becoming ethically-minded and businesses are taking note

Businesses with a social conscience are on the rise. (Getty Images: Simon Jarratt/Corbis/VCG)

Charles Murgha is 36 and had never had a job until he got a carpentry apprenticeship a few years ago.

Soon he'll be a qualified tradesman, and will have helped build 29 homes in his Indigenous community of Yarrabah, not far from Cairns.

The town has a 45 per cent unemployment rate. Charles says boys stop by to watch him work, and ask him how they can also get a job building houses when they leave school.

Asked if that makes him proud, Charles eventually says, quietly: "Gives me goosebumps."

Charles was assisted in his apprenticeship not by government agencies but by Cairns-based construction and property development company Mihaven.

Mihaven, which doubles as a registered training provider, is one of a growing number of businesses — here in Australia, but also globally — seeking to show ethically-minded consumers that they're driven by more than profits.

Founded five years ago and run by former town planner Sarah Mort and her builder husband James, the company focuses on training and employment for Indigenous and other disadvantaged job-seekers.

Sarah and James Mort founded their property development company with social impact in mind. (ABC RN: Ann Arnold)

Twenty-five per cent of Mihaven's workforce is Indigenous, and Ms Mort says training staff go the extra mile to help trainees lock in work experience and job placements.

"We have persisted so hard. Door-knocked every single big box retailer in this town," she says.

"We used every single contact we have, every relationship we can lean on, to help people get jobs."

QUESTION

What criticisms of the company from your chosen case study could an advocate of the narrow view make and why? ( 350 words)

Answer 1

Well, Mihaven has been doing a great job in assisting indigenous and disadvantaged people to find jobs and help build their skill set. So, what else could be criticized here? Let's look at the same in a narrowed mindset.

• Advocate of narrow mindset might claim that what Mihaven does in this case is just a show off and they don't have any genuine interest in helping disadvantaged people.
• Narrow minds might also claim that Mihaven paints a good picture of themselves to earn recognition with the ethically minded Australians and expand their business into other ventures ultimately.
• Narrow mind might also claim that, Mihaven has taken advantage of these indigenous jobless people to build their brand value, but at the end of the day the indigenous people doesn't get the incentive for being assisted by the firm.
• The apprenticeship doesn't guarantee that the people taking them up will get a job for sure. Mihaven acts as a intermediary for developing skills. But getting a job is solely those people's responsibility and Mihaven might not assist them then.

Although these claims look vague and absurd, we must understand that this is the way in which a narrow minded advocate could criticize Mihaven.

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