Question 1
One of the ethical philosophies that best fits my ethical framework is virtue ethics. One of the good things about virtue ethics is that it focuses more on the integrity of the individual rather than the actions. A person’s actions do not necessary define him or her. The person’s character traits are mostly important. Thus, any actions that are done by an individual cannot be attributed to just following the rules. Further, rules and regulations in any business setting will help evaluate the character traits of an individual. Additionally, using virtue ethics, one can be able to examine the motives and character of stakeholders, which will be helpful in uncovering underlying motivations of actions and outcomes of the various business deals. Moreover, if the business environment has high ethical standards, the virtue ethics framework offers the best approach. Additionally, the business environment may provide professional guidelines that limit the ability of a person to make ethical decisions. Thus, the virtue ethics provides additional options and makes the decision making process easier and effective. The virtue ethics framework helps one to grow as an ethical person, which makes it easier for one to handle ethical issues in the business world.
Question 2
- Product counterfeiting is one of the ethical issues that are likely to affect marketers. The advent of the internet has increased cases of product counterfeiting. Marketers are incurring huge costs in trying to protect their brands from being counterfeited. Furthermore, sales revenue is declining owing to the increase in counterfeited products. The counterfeiting is mostly done in overseas countries and some done locally. However, the problem arises in trying to distinguish between the real products and the counterfeits. Furthermore, since the quality of the counterfeit products is low, customer’s perception of a certain brand may be affected resulting to declining customer base even for the real product. Another ethical issue is grey markets. Marketers are losing profits from sales made in grey markets. In the grey markets, the discounts exceed the normal allowed discount range. Since the grey marketing occurs in areas where a brand is not expected to be sold, it creates problems for the global marketers trying to manage a coordinated marketing strategy across different markets. Price coordination becomes the challenge as the grey markets cuts across different regions why prices of products vary.
- Companies are losing many profits through grey markets and counterfeit products. A grey market tends to try to maximize benefits for a greater number of individuals. This can be argued from the utilitarianism perspective. More individuals are able to enjoy quality products at a low price. However, counterfeiting tends not to bring the most benefits to most people. The real brand producers suffer losses and the customers get low inferior quality.
Question 3
Safety implies that the chances of a product having any health implications are very minimal or none. Various stakeholders have different views on the adoption of the new light bulbs over the traditional ones. Environmentalists are campaigning for the adoption of the of the CFL light bulbs owing to the significant energy savings benefits they will bring. Based on a utilitarianism perspective, the environmentalists believe that the new light bulbs will be of significant benefit to the many homes in terms of saving energy. The manufacturers of the incandescent light bulbs are more likely to suffer owing to the limitation in the production of the incandescent light bulbs. Thus, such a move will be contrary to the utilitarianism perspective, which is for actions that maximize the benefit for most people.
Question 4
- I support the viewpoint of caveat venditor. This can protect both the sellers and the buyers at the same time. Unlike the caveat emptor, in which the buyer is solely to blame for any defects or consequences emanating from the harmful effects of a product, caveat venditor aims at protecting all consumers despite their levels of education and literacy level. Furthermore, the sellers can be held accountable for any problems associated with the product. This can promote the production of more quality products, which consumers can be able to enjoy the maximum satisfaction.
- The viewpoint can be different when one is a businessperson, as opposed to being a consumer. As a consumer, I may advocate for the caveat venditor. This is because, in case of defects or problems associated with the project, the consumer can be able to be compensated in case of problems. However, as a businessperson, caveat venditor may be damaging in terms of lawsuits and cost associated with the lawsuits. A businessperson may prefer caveat emptor as it makes the consumer liable to any form of problems, which may be associated with problems of the product after the purchase has been made. However, ethical decision-making will involve focusing on the option that promotes the greater benefit to most people, which implies that, as a consumer and a businessperson, caveat venditor should be the best option as it protects the consumer and ensures that the businessperson does not engage in unethical business practices.
Question 5
The company should not start the advertising campaign. This can be attributed to the fact that its products contain very high levels of calories and sugar. This can be quite detrimental to the health of children as it may cause health issues such as obesity. Furthermore, the mission statement of the company is contrary to the products that the company provides. This is unethical in the business sense. The company is mostly concerned with benefiting itself at the expense of the health of children. Starting the advertising campaigning would be contrary to the utilitarian philosophy of promoting and maximizing benefits to consumers. The company has to ensure that its products are safe and healthy before launching a campaign that is contrary to what they stand for as an organization. A company that is promoting healthy products needs to promote ethical business conduct.
Question 6
Ethical issues in marketing continue to increase in the business world. Issues such as counterfeiting and grey markets are not new issues. They have been in existence for a long time. Solutions to these issues are becoming difficult to develop. Most organizations fail to observe ethical standards. Businesses are taking advantage of innocent consumers. Further, the idea of caveat venditor has proved to be of benefit to me. Mostly I was aware of the issues of caveat emptor, but the viewpoints of caveat venditor seem to provide a clear ethical approach towards handling issues between manufacturers and consumers. Ethical issues are normally ignored in marketing where people want to benefit while taking advantage of other people.
Question 7
- The marketing profession offers many opportunities to marketers, which they can exploit. The availability of many opportunities encourages markets to act unethically in order to gain financially. Furthermore, the presence and occurrence of unethical behavior in the marketing practice makes it easy for a marketer to engage in unethical behavior. For instance, marketing employees will learn unethical behavior from their coworkers. Additionally, most codes of conduct in the marketing profession are not harsh thus; occurrences of repeat unethical conduct are high. Furthermore, personal ethics and organizational objectives can cause a lot of conflict for the marketer when making ethical decisions. Therefore, personal ethics in marketing can help significantly to reduce the extent of unethical behavior.
- One of the steps that those in the marketing world can take to improve the marketing profession ethically is to improve its code of conduct or develop new ones if they do not exist. These codes of conduct are aimed at promoting ethical behavior by reducing opportunities that may encourage unethical conduct. Furthermore, the lines of communication in marketing need to be more open and transparent. This will make it easier to monitor and audit marketing operations. Additionally, it is important for the various marketing organizations to ensure that penalties are imposed on those who engage in unethical behavior or violate the code of conduct. The fines may help reduce re-occurrence of the same unethical behaviors. Additionally, engaging in social responsible activities may help in achieving the ethical standards that a company may want by promoting the social good of other in the society.
