Page 111 - Foundations of Marketing

78 Part 1 | Strategic Marketing and Its Environment

Table 3.4 Observed Misconduct

Behaviors Employees Observing It (%)
Misuse of company time 33 %

Abusive behavior 21

Lying to employees 20
Company resource abuse 20

Violating company Internet use policies 16

Discrimination 15
Confl icts of interest 15

Inappropriate social networking 14

Health or safety violations 13
Lying to outside stakeholders 12

Stealing 12

Falsifying time reports or hours worked 12
Source: Ethics Resource Center, 2011 National Business Ethics Survey: Workplace Ethics in Transition (Washington,
DC: Ethics Resource Center, 2012), p. 39. © Ethics Resource Center, Washington, DC.

Increasing evidence indicates that being ethical and socially responsible pays off.
Social responsibility has a synergistic effect on market orientation that leads to improved
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business performance. More firms are moving beyond market orientation that focuses
on customers and competitors and are adopting a stakeholder orientation that focuses on
all constituents. Such a relationship implies that being ethically and socially concerned is
consistent with meeting the demands of customers and other stakeholders. By encouraging
their employees to understand their markets, companies can help them respond to stake-
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holders’ demands.
There is a direct association between corporate social responsibility and customer sat-
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isfaction, profits, and market value. In a survey of consumers, 80 percent indicated that
when quality and price are similar among competitors, they would be more likely to buy from
the company associated with a particular cause. In addition, young adults ages 18 to 25 are
especially likely to take a company’s citizenship efforts into account when making not only
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purchasing but also employment and investment decisions.
Thus, recognition is growing that the long-term value of conducting business in a socially
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responsible manner far outweighs short-term costs. Companies that fail to develop strategies
and programs to incorporate ethics and social responsibility into their organizational culture
may pay the price with poor marketing performance and the potential costs of legal violations,
civil litigation, and damaging publicity when questionable activities are made public.

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