Social Responsibility Initiatives LEARNING OBJECTIVES Identify examples of social responsibility that create value for customers Explain the impact of social responsibility on marketing results The Business Case for Social Responsibility Regardless of broader benefits, there is a strong business case for social responsibility. Public companies’ stock prices benefit from strong social responsibility initiatives. In 2013, more than $6.57 trillion were invested based on socially responsible investment strategies.[1] For marketers, the… Read More »Social Responsibility Initiatives

Social Responsibility in the Marketing Strategy LEARNING OBJECTIVES Identify examples of social responsibility that create value for customers Explain the impact of social responsibility on marketing results You’ll recall that we defined corporate social responsibility as the ethical behavior of a company toward society. It means acting responsibly toward the stakeholders—not just the shareholders—who have a legitimate interest in the business. Let’s focus on how marketers use corporate social responsibility to achieve marketing… Read More »Social Responsibility in the Marketing Strategy

Introduction to Social Responsibility Marketing Impact What you’ll learn to do: explain how demonstrating corporate social responsibility can impact marketing We have reviewed many ethical challenges and potential traps for marketers. How can a marketer win? Actually, in lots of ways. Increasingly, marketers are doing more than just trying to avoid doing harm; as you’ll see, they’re taking on important issues and are making a difference, actively doing good. Earlier… Read More »Introduction to Social Responsibility Marketing Impact

Ethics for Marketing Employees LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe how companies manage ethical behavior of marketing employees If you are hired to work in marketing at a typical company, there will likely be clear ethical standards defined in a company policy and some level of compliance among employees at all levels in the company. You will witness ethical breaches and need to decide whether to report them or not. You will see examples of outstanding… Read More »Ethics for Marketing Employees

Executive Role in Ethics LEARNING OBJECTIVES Identify the unique ethical considerations and roles for company executives Consider the following observation by the ECI on the results of the National Business Ethics survey: Managers–those expected to act as role models or enforce discipline–are responsible for a large share of workplace misconduct (60 percent) and senior managers are more likely than lower-level managers to break rules. Surveyed employees said that members of management are… Read More »Executive Role in Ethics

Introduction to Ensuring Ethical Marketing and Sales What you’ll learn to do: describe measures companies take to encourage ethical behavior Ethical issues arise at both an organizational level and an individual level. A single individual can engage in unethical behavior, but most ethical breaches that have significant impact on a business occur when many individuals come together to act unethically. This section will review the steps that businesses take at… Read More »Introduction to Ensuring Ethical Marketing and Sales

Gifts and Bribes LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe the risks associated with customer gifts and bribes Gift giving in business is commonplace and contentious at the same time. Business gifts are usually seen as an advertising, sales-promotion, and marketing-communication medium.[1] Such gifting is usually practiced for the following reasons: In appreciation for past client relationships, placing a new order, referrals to other clients, etc. In the hopes of creating a positive first impression that might… Read More »Gifts and Bribes

The Challenge of Monitoring Ethics in B2B Marketing Imagine that Banana Republic, the retail clothing store, wants to launch a new promotion with a significant price discount. Banana Republic sells to consumers, which makes it a B2C company. Before the promotion is announced, the corporate marketing team will analyze the pricing discount. The Web site design for the promotion will be throughly reviewed. If this is a new promotion, the… Read More »The Challenge of Monitoring Ethics in B2B Marketing

Ethics in B2B Marketing LEARNING OBJECTIVES Explain how B2B marketing creates unique ethical risks and challenges You will recall that business-to-business (B2B) marketing differs from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing in key ways. B2B marketers sell to other businesses or institutions, which then consume the product as part of their business operations or use the product in the assembly of the final product they sell to consumers. B2C marketers focus their efforts on… Read More »Ethics in B2B Marketing

Product Liability LEARNING OBJECTIVES Explain product liability and its impact on marketing Introduction Product liability is the legal liability a manufacturer or trader incurs for producing or selling a faulty product. There is not a single federal law or code that covers all product liability. Fourteen states have adopted the Uniform Commercial Code, which governs business transactions between states. Specifically, Article 2 of the code includes the requirements for contract formation and… Read More »Product Liability