Ethics in International Environments Essays

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.

This being despite the recession of 2008, we are witnessing an increasingly cooperative and sophisticated international business working environment. While it faces scrutiny in congress currently, the agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty was reached in October, 2015; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership treaty is also seemingly achievable with the revival of American economy in the near future. These new agreements will set up a worldwide business rule structure that will be fulfilled by many major economies. Within this new structure, businessmen and women will face ethical issues globally despite continuing cultural and regional factors still playing a big role within these issues and decisions being made. Learning and analyzing business ethical issues within the case competition will not only assist us to become global business leaders with a deep understanding of corporate social responsibilities but also prepare us to make better decisions for our

Ethics must be global, not local. In order to build a truly great global business the leaders need to bring forward a global standard of ethical practices.

Ethics are the product of a society’s culture so it is natural there will be different responses to similar ethical scenarios. Beekum, Stedam, and Yamamura (2003) suggest these differing conclusions will lead to conflict where one side perceives the outcome is ethical whereas the other does not. Another possible outcome is that one side may not even see a decision even being morally significant. Global organizations have the additional challenge when operating within a multi-national environment of recognizing cultural differences while maintaining a core moral and ethical foundation.

The primary purpose of ethics and social responsibility is imperative to the way we do business and live amongst society. Ethics most commonly know as the rights and wrongs are principles and standards that establish what is know as acceptable conduct within an organization. Organizations have moral and legal duties to implement ethics when developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholders and consumers, they do not want to be lied to or cheated into buying a false product. Unethical companies will use aggressive sales tactics and mischievous ways, of doing business to sell, promote and profit from vulnerable consumers. Unethical organizations believe in these tactics

However, there are ethical issues that occur in marketing and advertising, although, the legal approach may not solve all of the problems. It is wise for companies to be responsible and take a look at legal and ethical behaviors based on if it is in the best interest of the child. In addition, it is important for these organizations to determine if it is mandatory to operate in a free market and function efficiently and effectively. We know that ethics are the moral guiding principles that lead to good behaviors, within organizations. With that being said, ethics portrays two very important roles, one, it expresses the ethical standards of society and two, it is legal.

Ethical business behavior can be defined by business leadership. “Generally speaking, an action or choice can be considered ethically correct if it’s honest, fair, supports a beneficial outcome for both parties, and generally enables the overall corporate image and vision” (Definition of Ethics, 2002). In the following we will discuss how economic pressures on China, Jamaica, and America play a role in the ethical decision-making for financial, environmental, and cultural issues.

A noteworthy compel basic the CSR challenges in worldwide business is the distinction in culture among nations. The effects of social contrasts stretch out past CSR to incorporate the business conduct of nearby administration and representatives, and the inclinations of buyers. For the MNE, there are focal points in making an all around predictable arrangement of authoritative structures and impetuses and a brought together advertising

Globally, the world of business has also led to an increase in ethical difficulty and dilemmas for managers of cross border firms. In the article titled, Okpara John O. (2014), “The effects of national culture on managers’ attitudes toward business ethics: implications for organizational change”, Okpara John O argues how the impact of globalization in the world of business evaluates the importance of incorporating cultural differences into ethics research. The article is integral part of the idea that cultural differences exist among managers from different continent. These differences in individuals can be highly contributed to perceptions of power management, readiness to cope with unforeseen circumstances, impact for material goods and quality of life among staff, open-minded to change, and group oriented-related within an organizational environment. These differences definitely affect the ethical attitudes and decision-making abilities of managers, especially those in multicultural environments. Recently, when multinational organizations that are spread across the boundaries of different countries displaying different cultures develop their organizational codes of conduct, they are now taking into account the cultural attributes of their local entities and the people who make those entities into consideration. Therefore, a code of conduct ethics that balances cross-cultural perceptions and values is likely to have a greater chance of acceptance among the managers who are expected to abide by it especially when such managers represent different cultures. Okpara John O.

This essay is about discussing the ethicality of a company’s marketing activity. First of all, it needs to be defined what ethical activity is. Ethical marketing can bring advantages and disadvantages to the company. It can help to improve the brand image of the company and develop a trust with the customers. On the other hand, it cannot ensure that can increase the company’s sales or have a possibility to increase the advertising cost. In the following discussion, an international cosmetic firm, The Body Shop, is chosen to be the target.

International business ethics challenges the corporate world to deal with questions of what to do in situations where ethical standards come into conflict as a result of the different cultural practices in the nation. Since, there is this dilemma that has progressively troubled the large multinational corporations, international business ethics has arisen to help address these adhesive subject matters. There are several international business ethics discussions on the question of how to act in the home country as opposed to the host country is at the central point of most international corporations. The argument in question is how companies should practice their business according

In her article, ‘Unmasking the Myths: Learning to Navigate the Rough Seas of Ethics, Sophia Kusyk has articulated the myths that corporations perpetuate when engaging in trade and commerce across cultures. There is a blurring of the difference between the necessity of having the correct etiquette in a foreign culture as opposed to pursuing the correct ethics. Cultural relativism and individual subjectivism give rise to the notion that cultural tolerance is of greater import than doing the right thing. The final myth enumerated is that businesses exist merely to extract profit for their shareholders. Kusyk has recommended that corporates employ instruments such as mission and value statements, codes of conduct, ethics training programs, ethics committees, board appointments, certifications, confidential processes for whistle-blowing and transparency measures to align themselves with the stated UN Compacts published to inculcate corporate ethics in a globalized world (Kusyk, 2010).

Businesses have been relatively passive in investigate their in marketing ethics and are still operating according to traditional business models and process that do not reflect consumer interests and ethical implications of their activity often continue afterthought and are yet to be thoroughly incorporated into management decision-making. The contingency framework can accelerate this pre-emptive approach to ethical decision-making. To embed ethics into firms planning and strategy formulation process , marketers should learn from consumers ethical evaluation of their marketing techniques (Smith and Cooper-Martin 1997). An “ethical execution of the marketing program. In addition to financial , market, and competitive objectives, marketers should include consumer concerns and ethical integrity as important criteria for management decision making . Furthermore, ethics must be matched throughout the marketing planning process from product development, market selection , advertising and promotion execution.

Process-orientated framework, analyzing ethical problems in terms of the categories used by marketing specialists; Research, price, promotion, placement Specific issues in marketing ethics:

In the modern world, two things are most sought after: goodness and prosperity. However, given the innate nature of mankind, and his compulsions towards greed and selfishness, complete morality is impossible. This idea has roots in the definitions and ideals found in utilitarianism, a term that will be defined later, and has led many to call business ethics an oxymoron. “In the US generally, the ethical road that is paved with good corporate intentions and constructive programs includes some bumps,” (McClenahen 60). Although bumps may exist, many companies are striving for excellence in this area as statistics show ethics are related to customer loyalty 's. These businesses have found that improvements can be found through understanding and action. Business leaders can increase morals by understand utilitarianism, leadership, correct forms of communication, and how these affect customers.