What is the relationship of marketing ethics and strategy?
1. Marketing Ethics includes the principles and standards that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in making marketing decisions.
2. Marketing Strategy must consider stakeholders—including managers, employees, customers, government regulators, suppliers, shareholders, the community, and special-interest groups—all of whom contribute to accepted standards and society's expectations.
Product-Related Ethical Issues:
1) The firm fails to disclose risks associated with a product or information related the function, value, or use of a product.
2) Issues can arise in product design as pressures build to substitute inferior materials or product components to reduce cost.
3) Counterfeit products
Pricing-Related Ethical Issues:
The company seeks to earn high profits at the expense of its customers.
Price Discrimination - Firms charge different prices to different customers.
Price Fixing - Firms collaborate to set prices.
Predatory Pricing - Firm charge very low prices for a product with the intent of driving competition out of business or out of a specific market.
Superficial Discounting - Firm advertises a sale price as a reduction below the normal price when it's not the case
Promotion-Related Ethical Issues:
Firms use ambiguous statements, in which claims are so weak that the viewer, reader, or listener must infer the advertiser's intended message.
Bribery - An incentive is offered in exchange for an illicit advantage.
Supply Chain-Related Ethical Issues:
Managing supply chain ethics is important because many stakeholders hold the firm responsible for all ethical conduct related to product availability. This requires the company to exercise oversight over all of the suppliers used in producing a product.