Marketing and Ethics

Marketing and Ethics


High profile scandals involving companies such as Enron and WorldCom have renewed interest in understanding how such debacles might be avoided. Corporate accountability is the new theme for concerned investors and politicians. Many agree that the culture of an organization influences the ethical and socially responsible behavior of its employees. The mission statement of a company can play an extremely important role in encouraging ethical corporate behavior.

If the top management put a lot of emphasis in the mission statement of its company, that they will serve all the stakeholders of the company honestly and will not tolerate any type of a fraudulent activity, then surely the rest of the workforce may also get motivated to act in an honest manner. However, over the years companies have adopted missions organization cultures entirely centered on profitability which has led to such type of scandals.

The top management of the company can put in controls at the various levels of the value delivery network in order to prevent frauds of any kind. There should be complete co-ordination between the company, its suppliers and its distributors. Such type of steps can easily create problems for those employees who intend to commit fraud of any kind.

Finally, a marketing audit can play an extremely important role in avoiding scandals. A marketing audit can be conducted by an objective and experienced outside party. The audit can easily spot trouble areas and it can provide good input for a plan of action to improve the company’s predicament.

In conclusion, marketing can play an extremely important role in preventing frauds in companies which are a source of great embarrassment for the modern corporate world.