Page 106 - Foundations of Marketing

The Marketing Environment, Social Responsibility, and Ethics | Chapter 3 73

Entrepreneurship in Marketing

True Office Provides an Innovative Way to Approach Ethical Training

Adam Sodowick, entrepreneur and CEO of True Office, ethics and compliance standards presented in the
has developed a new method of interactive video video game.
game storytelling to engage employees during eth- On average companies annually spend $ 60 billion on
ics training programs. After conducting a series of corporate training, and the payoff can sometimes seem
trials, True Office found that employees retain more small if employees are not engaged in the program.
knowledge of the topic when it is presented through Yet True Office claims that through its program, com-
visually interactive methods. This “gamification” has panies can monitor employee passing rates and areas
the potential to impact ethical training in a positive that require additional training. This feature could help
way. With higher retention rates, employees are more marketing managers that are responsible for teaching
likely to engage and motivate people to solve problems employees about ethical issues such as bribery, conflicts
according to what they learned about the company’s of interest, and misuse of company resources.
c

© iStockphoto.com/CRTd

team members at Whole Foods are expected to contribute insight and make recommendations
on how to address problems before they become major issues as well as how to improve com-
pliance at stores.
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An ethical issue is an identifiable problem, situation, or opportunity requiring an indi-
vidual or organization to choose from among several actions that must be evaluated as right or
wrong, ethical or unethical. Any time an activity causes marketing managers or customers in
their target market to feel manipulated or cheated, a marketing ethical issue exists, regardless
of the legality of that activity. For example, the Girl Scouts have been criticized because their
three most popular cookies—Samoas, Tagalongs, and Thin Mints—contain partially hydroge-
nated oils (trans fat). Yet the company has carried a “ 0 percent trans fat” label on their cookie
boxes since 2007. By law, companies are allowed to label their food products as containing
0 percent trans fat as long as the product contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.
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Even though the cookies’ labels are legal, the ethics involved are debatable.
Regardless of the reasons behind specific ethical issues, marketers must be able to identify
these issues and decide how to resolve them. To do so requires familiarity with the many kinds
of ethical issues that may arise in marketing. Research suggests that the greater the conse-
quences associated with an issue, the more likely it will be recognized as an ethics issue, and
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the more important it will be to making an ethical decision. Some examples of ethical issues
related to product, promotion, price, and distribution (the marketing mix) appear in Table 3.3 .

Philanthropic Dimension
At the top of the pyramid are philanthropic responsibilities. These responsibilities, which go
beyond marketing ethics, are not required of a company, but they promote human welfare or
goodwill, as do the economic, legal, and ethical dimensions of social responsibility. After nat-
ural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy, for example, many corporations— including Comcast,
Goldman Sachs, Target, General Motors, and Kellogg—provided support to victims, waived
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certain fees, and/or aided in cleanup efforts. Philanthropy is not limited to large companies,
ethical issue An identifiable
however. For example, Charlotte Street Computers in Asheville, North Carolina, has devel-
problem, situation, or opportu-
oped a refurbishing center that refurbishes computers and then donates them to those in need. nity requiring a choice among
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The small business also sponsors several community events and fundraising for charities. several actions that must be
More companies than ever are adopting a strategic approach to corporate philanthropy. evaluated as right or wrong,
Many firms link their products to a particular social cause on an ongoing or short-term basis, ethical or unethical

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