Introduction
According to Thomas Donaldson and Patricia Werhane, “Ethics can be defined as the study of whatever is right and good for humans.” Ethics are defined as rules of behavior, code of conduct, ability to distinguish between the good and the bad. In general, ethical marketing is a process through which an organization or a company sells its products and services by using the fair means of ethical principles there by creating a strong customer relationship resulting in an increased value of stakeholders. Therefore, marketing principles includes a fair and true level in marketing communications, respecting the privacy of its customers, obeying and following the government regulations in addition to the standards set by the marketers. The U.S.Constitution (Kennedy’s Consumer Bill of Rights 1962) provides protection for basic consumer rights as long as they meet five basic conditions:
Right to Safety
Right to be Informed
Right to Selection
Right to Confidentiality
Right to Privacy
“Marketing ethics has been receiving increased research attention, particularly from the past 10 years.” Alen J. Dubinsky & Barbara Loken. Ethical issues can be defined as a situation or problem in which a company or an individual has to decide what the right thing as per ethics is or what is wrong unethically. These issues can occur in any organization and are very common. The most debated one these days are the ethical issues of marketing. We will be discussing some of the
Marketing Ethics: The Marketers standards of conduct and moral values. The 5 areas of ethical concerns for Marketers are: Marketing Research – ex: Gathering marketing information in exchange for money or free offers. Product Strategy – ex: Product quality, planned obsolescence, packaging. Distribution – ex: Determining the appropriate degree of control over a channel. Promotion – ex: Gifts and Bribes Pricing – Most unethical pricing behaviours are also illegal. Social Responsibility: involves marketing philosophies, policies, procedures, and actions whose primary objective is the enhancement of society. The 4 levels of Social Responsibility are: Economic – Be Profitable; the foundation upon which all others rest Legal – Obey The Law; Play by the rules of the game Ethical – Be Ethical; Obligation to do what is right, just, and fair. Philanthropic – Be a Good Corporate Citizen; Contribute resources to the community, improve quality of life.
Marketing is composed of the performance of business activities, which direct the flow of goods and services from the manufacturers to the consumer. Bothe the advertising and marketing industries operate within federal regulations that are monitored by the federal trade commission. The advertisers have to be careful and act ethically taking extra care when making their adverts.
Marketing is like a double-edged sword, if it is adopted properly, it will give profits to a company; however, if it is used inadequately, it will give harm. It is undeniable that today’s business operations have more intense competition level against each other due to the advancement of technology that allows people to receive more information. Marketing plays the key role in making products being recognized by consumers. To get people’s attention, some massages about the product need to be sent to the target market. With the high level of competition, the unethical marketing issues arise in order to make their own firms gain more
This case study analyzes the experiences of Courtland Kelley at General Motors (GM). Courtland Kelley a third generation GM worker put his job on the line by pushing the GM managers and executives to fully respond to the safety issues found while working as a safety inspector at the company. Kelley along with his supervisor Bill McAleer first discovered the issues while auditing GM cars at rail yards across the country, a spot check of vehicles before the cars were cleared to be delivered to the dealers. McAleer was taken off the audit as a result, who subsequently sued the company seeking whistle-blower protection. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge in favor of GM. The judgement only increased Kelley’s
4) Why is ethics an important consideration in marketing decisions? Explain your answer with an example.
The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.
This will be an over view of ethics as it relates to business in our society. Concepts from Philosophy will seek to describe the correlation between actions that are classified as morally right or ethical in our dealings with each other as human beings. Clear and concise examples will be given as well as ways in which to improve upon business ethics.
Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.
"Germany's 'social market' economy largely follows free-market principles, but with a considerable degree of government regulation and generous social welfare programs" (Doing business in Germany, 2013, Export.). When contemplating entering the German market, it is useful to learn from the example of other firms, including their mistakes. Germany, although superficially similar to the United States, Great Britain, and other European countries in many ways, has some critical cultural differences which will impact the ways in which a foreign company presents itself and interacts with local organizations.
Your reason is great and I believe your essay would be great. I believe if you do some business research about marketing it would definitely support your reasons very well. You should discuss how is “inherently” manipulative such in what ways is it manipulative. Also discuss if this is ethical manipulating customer. I believe that it is not really unethical because this is how company make their sales. Indeed, that it is the customer’s responsibility for their actions. We are all old enough to make our own decisions therefore should not be seen as in a bad way. Also discuss this in the business perspective. For instance, if you build a business yourself wouldn’t you want the best marketing tool to promote your business to the population.
Out of these concepts I found the way to avoid making ethical lapses in marketing and sales message was the most important due to ethics is a not just a big part of in business messages but in all professional
The American Marketing Association follows three main norms within their code of ethics. The rules include: do not harm, foster trust in the marketing system, and embrace ethical values. Norms are present to assure no intentional harm is done to others. It creates a safe environment for all stakeholders. If an individual follows these norms, honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and citizenship values will coincide. This is what keeps relationships strong throughout the company.
Considering all the business disciplines available, marketing is usually considered to be probably the least self-critical. Regardless of the every now and then extremely bona fide interest in customer service, Provision of goods and services at costs that are affordable to the populace and implementation of efficient endorsements to push them to purchase merchandise that better fit their needs, wants and requirements, Marketing has not been able since time and memorial to evade the charge that it is morally, socially and ethically fruitless in some aspects. Marketers usually voice their aims and objectives regarding customer satisfaction, their corporate and ethical social responsibility programs, about building intimate
The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse the policies specified by government and organisations for the protection of consumer interests and the role of ethics in consumer choice. It also analyses the role of ethics in consumer culture and give examples of how the service sector reacts to it.
Ethical problems in marketing starts with conflicts and disagreements. Each party in the marketing transaction brings expectations of how the business relationship will exist and how the transaction should be conducted. Some ethical problems in marketing research aren’t always the invasion of privacy and stereotyping. Selective marketing is used to discourage the demand from undesirable markets or just by disenfranchising them altogether. Examples of unethical market is the exclusion markets such as gay, ethnic minorities, and plus-size markets.