Global Marketing Leadership

International marketing or business is uniquely different from the local market because the product price, place and promotion is vastly different from what is been offered to local customers (Johansson, 2000) With the emergence of the information technology, cross border marketing has never been a distant dream. However, it has never been easier even for giant multinational companies to face challenges that come in international business. The biggest challenge comes from the culture which varies from country to country.

Ethical marketing refers to the application of marketing ethics into the marketing process. Ethical marketing is about making marketing decisions that are morally right. The ethics of the marketing decision can incorporate any part of marketing including sourcing of raw materials, staff employment and product advertising and pricing. Sound marketing ethics are usually those that result in consumer satisfaction, with no negative effect, with the goods and services being recognized or with the company producing them. Ethical marketing generally results in a more socially responsible and culturally thoughtful business community. The concern with ethical issues has changed the attitude of the world towards a more socially responsible way of thinking. This has influenced companies to market their products in a more socially responsible way.

Marketing is like a double-edged sword, if it is adopted properly, it will give profits to a company; however, if it is used inadequately, it will give harm. It is undeniable that today’s business operations have more intense competition level against each other due to the advancement of technology that allows people to receive more information. Marketing plays the key role in making products being recognized by consumers. To get people’s attention, some massages about the product need to be sent to the target market. With the high level of competition, the unethical marketing issues arise in order to make their own firms gain more

The impact of national cultures on marketing practices has been such that it brought about the creation of an academic field, with as a lead-researcher, Geert. Hofstede, on whose writings I have based my analysis.

Ethics is generally defined as “the standard of behavior by which conduct is judged”. In other words, individuals execute actions in different ways based on their ethical beliefs which are obtained by their personal moral principles. While we usually associate this notion to people, it can also be used for businesses. The latter can judged by potential customers, other firms, and many other different actors. Marketing plays an essential role in communicating and building judgements regarding a particular company. It generally showcases a company’s beliefs and values. It upholds them to their social responsibilities.

Each country is a different market, with its own language, buying habits, ways of living, mores, business methods, marketing traditions, and laws. So instead of trying to organize new agencies with American personnel, most U.S. agencies purchase a majority. However, U.S agencies are not locked into the differences, because through global marketing, all of people’s needs around the world will be same toward U.S products sold abroad. Global consumer culture also depends upon global media to create a sense of global identify and memory without which any cultural identity is incomplete (Smith 1991).

Coca-Cola is one of the companies in the world with the largest supply chain and distribution system. This identity is facilitated by the company's large global presence. The large distribution channel enables the corporation to distribute over one million products across the world every day. In this case, the operations of the company are facilitated by over 100,000 workers across the world. It also implies that the firm has relationships with second and third parties such as suppliers of raw materials, wholesalers, and distributors. Apparently, Coca-Cola products are sold even at the small kiosk outlets. Therefore, Coca-Cola’s large and successful corporation stature makes it susceptible to various ethical issues. The existence of potential ethical issues is underpinned by the fact that the company interacts with a lot of business elements, most of which are heavily regulated in most countries. Additionally, the company’s tradition of successful business venture and the focus on expanding their product portfolio exposes them to various ethical risks. In this case, this paper examines the pertinent issues related Coca-Cola’s dispute against POM Wonderful.

     Cultures are varying among different parts of the globe. People with different cultures have different characteristics and viewpoints on the subjects due to diverse understanding and method of learning. During the past few decades, the international trade grows in a very rapid rate due to the advantages that it provides; “increased sales, operational efficiencies, exposure to new technologies and broader consumer choices” (Heslin). Therefore, when considering the culture aspect to current business world, it is crucial for business to understand the culture aspect because of the tremendous growth of international business as well as utilize the international market to its maximum

Considering all the business disciplines available, marketing is usually considered to be probably the least self-critical. Regardless of the every now and then extremely bona fide interest in customer service, Provision of goods and services at costs that are affordable to the populace and implementation of efficient endorsements to push them to purchase merchandise that better fit their needs, wants and requirements, Marketing has not been able since time and memorial to evade the charge that it is morally, socially and ethically fruitless in some aspects. Marketers usually voice their aims and objectives regarding customer satisfaction, their corporate and ethical social responsibility programs, about building intimate

In the hands of the small-minded fool, marketing has been used to hurt, lie, promote bigotry, and usurp the rights of other to live free and pursue happiness. In the hands of the well-intentioned, marketing is the bedrock upon which civilizations are built. A strong marketing machine is at the heart of every reform and revolution. The progress brought about through marketing is rarely painless, but always necessary. "(Norris, B 2005)

(Editor’s note: This post is part of a six-week blog series on how leadership might look in the future. The conversations generated by these posts will help shape the agenda of a symposium on the topic in June 2010, hosted by HBS’s Nitin Nohria, Rakesh Khurana, and Scott Snook. This week’s focus: cultural distinctions and

Before we can go into the ethical and philosophical questions of your everyday marketer we first have to come to understand of what marketing ethics are.

Ethical issues in marketing are important in terms of how an organisation and its products are

Businesses nowadays hold a lot of responsibility when developing and selling products/service ethically. Business ethics is the discussion that many scholars are talking about in securing a business’s reputation and success. In this paper, I will be tackling the surrounding ideals when it’s comes to business ethics and how a business should be run in order to have social responsibility. In addition, the theories that are based around these topics will be added into a scholarly debate to fully capture the insight of the field. We will look at the discourse community in terms of how the scientific studies of marketing ethics is defined and established (normative theories, moral philosophy, logics, etc.). Afterwards, we will

Global marketing opportunities usually form the pillar under which viability and profitability of international marketing depend upon. This merged with globalization of market today makes international marketing practices a concern globally that calls for moral responsibility (ethics) in conducting business (Danley, 1983). Ethics in international marketing poses many dilemmas and this is because value judgments differ among different cultures. What is fully accepted as right in one country is completely wrong in another country. Upon a close look of existing ethical frameworks, international marketers cannot fully depend on universal ethical norms like hyper norms. In spite of this,