Business Ethics
Business Ethics
Abstract
Marketing is nothing but exchange of values between the marketer and the customer. Nowadays, consumers have various options to buy goods that satisfy their needs. The marketplace is crowded with offers and promises that would confuse an ordinary consumer. Sustainable marketing calls for a transparent and ethical marketing approach on the part of marketers. Without a strict policy of business ethics, companies cannot win the customers’ mind. This paper briefly explains the marketing principles a company needs to adopt on an ethical perspective.
Marketing is all about building effective customer relationships by exchanging value and trust between the marketer and the customer. Ethical marketing emphasizes the need of being honest with the customers, stakeholders, society and the environment. A company marketing a high quality detergent with a huge market demand is not ethical if it secretly pollutes the atmosphere with high quantum of carbon emission. The most visible common unethical practices followed by companies today include discrimination at workplace, unethical auditing practices, lack of corporate social responsibility, fraud and bribe. Ethical marketing is an opportunity for companies to boost their credibility among the consumers. Thus, the marketing efforts of a company need to be driven by high personal ethics to sustain quality customer relationships. This article approaches marketing and its principles on an ethical perspective, and suggests ideas to grow in the marketplace by following ethical approaches in product promotion to establish emotional, long-term relationships with the customers.
II. Marketing defined on ethical perspective
Marketing is a process through which companies create and offer values for customers toward building strong customer relationships so as to capture values in return from the customers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, pp.27). Customer value is nothing but the difference between what a buyer gets from a product or service, and what he gives to receive it. Ethical marketing insists that the marketing process should follow certain principles that are mutually beneficial to both the marketer and the customer. For example, the product should make life easier for the customers by using it, for which the marketers need to fine tune the product by continuous market research, and understanding the customer’s requirements. Thus, maintaining a sustainable relationship through understanding the needs and wants of customers from time to time, and modifying products accordingly determines the success of an organization.
For example, advancement in Information Technology and the Internet has come in handy for customers today to save time through online shopping. Since online shopping denies the possibility of effective interpersonal communication with the marketer, an online marketer who values honesty is the need of the customers today. Amazon.com, online marketing giant has come up with an honest solution to address this need. America’s second largest retailer with annual revenues and profits growing at an impressive 40 percent, believes, doing good to the customers should be the only objective of a business organization and profits would follow. Amazon, a truly customer-driven organization has got 400 measurable customer related and ethic-driven goals. Amazon’s obsession of creating values to its customers has in fact motivated the online pioneer to innovate and introduce the Kindle e-reader, which is now the company’s product with highest demand. Amazon’s obsession of making the customer’s experience exclusively personal and honest, even in the absence of absolute human interaction, by its personalized home pages and recommendations to all its customers is a strategy to maintain healthy, profitable long-term relationship with the customers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, pp.24-25) .
Basic human needs like food, clothing, shelter, warmth and safety are not created by marketers. Thus these needs are readily available market to companies. The basic needs ensure the well-being of the customers, and thus it is the responsibility of companies promoting food and drinks to market healthy, unadulterated and certified products. Today many companies marketing food products suffer from marketing myopia of paying more interest to the products they promote than the health benefits the product gives to the consumer, particularly growing children (Levitt, 2004, Marketing Myopia). Many of the fast food items promoted on a large scale through television commercials are not healthy to growing children. It denies the children the opportunity to grow healthily through a balanced diet.
III. Choosing a Customer-friendly Marketing Strategy
Having understood the customers and their needs, a marketer should distill a clear and transparent customer value proposition. A set of values and paybacks a product promises its customers to fulfill their needs is the value proposition of a brand. While creating a value proposition for a product the marketer should put himself first in the customer’s shoes and ask his own self honestly, ‘does the product have all the attributes as claimed by me?’
A smart and ethical marketing strategy integrating the marketing tools, namely product, promotion, price and place on transforming into action builds a strong and sustainable customer relationship. A product designed to address a particular need should not promote materialism, or create a need for other products. Also, the packaging should not be exaggerating or misleading the customer, and should not contain misleading labels. Similarly overstating the features of a product through advertisements is unethical. Intruding into the privacy of customers through door-to-door selling, and sending spam mails to unknown customers are unethical means of business. As for pricing, discriminatory pricing strategies like the one practiced by many airlines charging high price during peak holiday seasons affect ordinary air travelers during the season. Also, setting the price low, and adding different sub prices to misguide the customer into believing the price is low is also an unethical practice followed my some marketers. Some retail outlets even target and influence children by displaying toys and other products on the lower shelves, which is another ethical issue. Advertisements targeting the children through fast food, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets too are unethical.
Societal marketing approach which focuses on creating sustainable values to the society and environment in addition to ensuring a long-run win-win situation to both the marketer and buyer as well is the best choice for a company to inspire both its customers and environment. Levi’s proudly markets latest designer jeans manufactured from thrown away plastic bottles. Similarly, Nike attracts runners by means of knitted sneakers which, it asserts, cut waste during manufacturing by 88 percent (Voight, 2013, Green is the new black, para.1).
IV. Socially Responsible Marketing
The rapid population growth, technological advancement and economic growth during the past few decades pose a severe threat to the global economy and environment (Belz & Peattie, 2012, pp.7). Hence, business ethics warrants companies to align their marketing strategies to accommodate economic realities like recession, and protect the environment. They must spend more on giving value to the customer and promotion so as to strengthen customer relationships against unethical competitors who cut back on expenses. In recent times non-profit making organizations also have started innovative marketing strategies. Such smart marketing campaigns would attract huge funds and sponsorships. St Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s mission of “Finding cures. Saving children,” makes it the nation’s top children’s cancer hospital (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, pp.48).
Business should inspire solutions to environmental problems, as outdoor gear marketer Patagonia pledging each year one percent of its sales or ten percent of its profits, whichever is higher, for the noble cause of protecting the environment.
V. Conclusion
If building sustainable marketing is the core concept of marketing, practicing good marketplace ethics is the cornerstone for sustainable marketing. Hence companies must work out policies to develop corporate marketing ethics policies, and monitor and review them on a regular basis. The policies must be displayed at all branch offices. Also managers must develop business standards based on corporate conscience, personal integrity and long-term customer welfare to reap success in the marketplace (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, pp.623-625).
References
Belz, F., & Peattie, K. (2012). Sustainability marketing: A global perspective (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2014) Principles of Marketing (15th ed.) Essex: Pearson.
Levitt, T. (2004). Marketing Myopia. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from https://hbr.org
/2004/07/marketing-myopia/ar/1
Voight, J. (2013). Green Is the New Black: Levi's, Nike among Marketers Pushing Sustainability Responding to a consumer behavior shift. Retrieved November 13, 2014, from http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/green-new-black-levi-s-nike-among-marketers-pushing-sustainability-153318
