600 Technology: Engineering Our World Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. When a customer contacts your company, listen to the customer’s point of view. Reply directly to the points that are mentioned. Pleasing customers is critical to providing good service. Your customer service representative’s response can make the difference between an unhappy customer and a happy customer. Unhappy customers may talk to friends about their bad experience. Happy customers often bring in new clients. Ethics and Legal Responsibilities Businesses can be held accountable if they make decisions that are harmful to customers or the general public. In its simplest form, ethics is a matter of knowing right from wrong. Creating a reputation for being ethical can help your business become successful and stay successful. A company that makes a reputation for being unethical loses customers quickly. Ethical businesses avoid shipping faulty products. For example, if a product is discovered to be dangerous in some way, the company immediately stops selling it and offers refunds to people who have already purchased it. Although these practices may cost the business money, they can also help keep the company from being sued. They also help your company maintain the confi dence of current customers. These customers are then more likely to return to your company and buy future products. Closing and Evaluating Your Company Most school-based companies are meant to operate only through the school year. Near the end of the year, your class will close the company and liquidate its assets. Liquidation involves selling the company’s assets, including leftover supplies, fi nished products, and any tools and equip ment the company has purchased. It also includes paying all outstanding debts. If money remains after all the debts have been paid, you will need to decide what to do with it. In a corporation, the money would be divided among the stockholders. In your school-based company, your class may want to consider donating the profi ts to benefi t people in your community. You may choose to donate to an established charity or to address immediate local needs, such as personal hardship caused by illness or a natural disaster. Helping out fi nancially not only benefi ts the recipients, but it also provides publicity for your school, your mentors, and any future school-based companies your school may form. After liquidating the company, your class can review and discuss the experience of forming a company. What skills have you learned that may help you in later life? If you were to start over now, what would you do differently, and why? In the future, you may have a chance to work in a fi eld that is entirely unknown today. As you consider all possibilities, now and in the future, do not forget entrepreneurial business opportunities. These can be especially exciting when new technologies are introduced. If a related career does not exist, you can create one!