Read this article, which will provide guidelines for ensuring management is ready to handle a crisis and outlines specific business ethics that should be followed to ensure truthful disclosures.
As the business marketplace globalizes, it is essential for marketers to develop a
code of business ethics that reaches across national boundaries as well. Every country
and every culture has its own ethical foundations, beliefs, lifestyles, and choices. No
one rule applies to every country.
As far as situational ethics go, some would say that each of us generally knows
what is right and what is wrong. Others, such as international actor Ben Kinglsey, have
said "The hard part is knowing what's right … once you know that, doing it is easy. You
have no other choice".
There are a number of philosophical guidelines to choose from when charting
questions of ethic and morality in marketing. Author Mark Twain, in a cynical
assessment of marketing's promotional powers, wrote "Advertising is the rattling of a
stick in a swill bucket". Pope John Paul II spoke specifically about marketing in 1991
when he observed that marketers "speak of it as part of their task to 'create' needs for
products and services – that is to cause people to feel and act upon cravings for items
and services they do not need. … This is a serious abuse, an affront to the human
dignity and the common good when it occurs in affluent societies. But the abuse is still
more grave when consumerist attitudes and values are transmitted by communications
media and advertising to developing countries, where they exacerbate socio-economic
problems and harm the poor".
For other guidelines on conducting ethical marketing, we can turn to the musings
of Jeremy Bentham, who advocated individual and economic freedom; Immanuel Kant,
who argued that experience must be processed by reason; John Rawls, who proposed
social justice is determined in fair agreement by everyone as equals; or Niccolò
Machiavelli, who suggested that bad things can be justified by good ends. Ethical
theories may range from Utilitarianism, which calls for the "greatest good for the
greatest number," to Deontology, which says we should do "what is right, though the
world should perish".
Towards a more practical end, international business behaviors are frequently
governed by governmental and industry regulations requiring that marketers:
There are several areas that marketing regulations are especially sensitive to:
For example, prior to 1996, Belgium Germany, Italy, and Luxemburg prohibited comparative marketing (e.g., Coca Cola is better than Pepsi). However, in 1996, the European Commission allowed comparative marketing and advertising throughout the E.U. under certain conditions:
Many countries, including the United States, place limits on if or when tobacco and
alcohol products may be advertised, while also imposing regulations governing
marketing campaigns targeting children.
The Illinois Institute of Technology's Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions provides a large database of codes of ethics and other related resources for a large number of professional fields. Among some of the codes most relevant to business and marketing professionals are:
A primary aim of ethical business behavior is to engender public trust - both of
the business environment on the whole, as well as individual companies operating
within the marketplace. Some research has shown businesses can do a better job of
this. For example, a Golin/Harris survey found that trust in American companies is
dropping. By a margin of seven to one, survey respondents said we have a crisis of
confidence and trust in the way business is done in the United States. Among the
industries scoring the lowest returns in public trust:
Only ten business/industries in the survey were ranked as positive or neutral public regard. Among those were:
The survey also asked Americans "What are the most critical actions that companies
you don't trust should do to earn your trust?" The recommendations Americans list to
win trust for business include:
It is interesting to note that these objectives boosting public trust are often achieved
through marketing, advertising and PR - the very industries not held in very high regard
according to the survey results.
After reviewing the materials above, please post and respond to the following topics on the course discussion board. Feel free to start your own related posts, and respond to other students' postings as well.
Source: Steven Van Hook, https://s3.amazonaws.com/saylordotorg-resources/wwwresources/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BUS2036.1.pdf
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.