Characteristics of Ethics in Business - Coursework Example

Ethics is a discipline that defines the rules of conduct in different social or business situations (Britannica, 2007). There are many ways ethics can help people become more conscious of their behavior and the consequences of action on the society which surrounds them. The best way to obtain an ethical framework that can be applied to real life scenarios is by considering concepts and theories established by scholars on the subject. Among the different theories that can simplify an ethical analysis are virtue ethics, egoism ethics, relativism, utilitarian ethical perspective and the seven step procedure for moral decision making. The introduction of a new product to the marketplace is always a journey which becomes tougher when the company launching the product does not enjoy any brand recognition. Marketing is the business field responsible for creating a campaign for companies. The advertising action a company may choose is subject to ethical considerations. The firm studied in this report is called Popes Wipes and the new product launch is of a new premium toilet tissue. The stakeholder handling the marketing affair is a firm called Finch & Ascher (F&A). The advertising gurus handling the marketing aspects are the product manager, Clive, and F&A consultant Chloe is responsible for the account. There a conflict of opinion about how to implement the marketing campaign for the product. Chloe believes that the best approach is to used comparative marketing create ads to compare the product with the leading competitor in the toilet issue segment of the market in the United Kingdom. These types of marketing techniques in which a competitor’s is directly focused improved once image by using tactical comparison to discredit another product to build an image is not the philosophical and ethical route Cliver wants for the firm. The key ethical issue displayed in the case is the Cliver vs. Chloe dilemma based on advertising strategies. The clash of ideas over proper and ethical standards in the field of advertising is based on philosophical ethical theories. The consulting firm working the case sees nothing wrong based on their views of reality with the approach for a solution for the client. The manufacturer believes this type of advertising can hurt the company’s reputation and will have negative consequences for the company in the long and short term. Deontology is an ethical theory that evaluates the process of determining ethical from unethical behavior. Deontology ethics stipulates that goodness resides in making decisions that recognize and keep moral obligations such that the actual consequences of the action are a secondary concern (Maricopa). Based on this view this ethical theory the consulting firm and Posh Wipes are both acting ethical responsible based on their situation. Neither company acted unethically because the concern of both players enhancing the firm’s value first, regardless of the consequences of the action such as a mad competitor or the possibility of unwanted business scenario such as starting a price war. The possible alternatives to find a resolution to the ethical dilemma vary depending on the philosophical ethical approached used by the decision maker to find the optimal solution. utilitarian ethical perspective implies actions are considered right or wrong based on their consequences and the optimal solution is the one that brings the best overall outcome (Scu, 2007). The theory places a high level of emphasis on the consequence of the actions, thus this theory is more risk adverse ethical framework. Based on this theory the advertising campaign can either be switch from its current strategically focus or keep as it is but a through analysis must be performed of the implications of using the aggressive advertising style of comparing the new product with an establish product and find ways to bring integrity to the campaign such as eliminating lies, confrontational claims, and negative attitudes towards the competition in the application of the marketing solution. The virtual ethical theory places less focus on which rules should be followed and instead focuses on helping people at developing good character traits such as kindness and generosity (Cline, 2007). The good character traits characteristic of the theory implies that Posh Wipes has to act in a manner to display corporate generosity. Instead of focusing on the competition the initial marketing launch could deviate in another focus such as highlighting the corporate responsibility achievements of the company in the written, oral and visual marketing applications. Ethical egoism is a theory that states that actions are ethically justifiable if they satisfy the personal needs of the user. In the case studied in this paper the utilization of a strategy to launch the product based on comparing the new product with an established brand is ethically acceptable. The theory provides validity to the F&A original strategy, thus the initial plan becomes a viable alternative to choose from. Even though the Posh Wipes thought it was not ethical behavior, the theory states that the conservative mentally of Posh is not a solid aggressive business mentality need that it does not know how to judge the fine line between ethical and unethical behavior. In business is has always common for competing firms to attack each other, such as the Burger War between international players McDonalds and Burger King. Another ethical perspective is Relativism, a view that mentions that there are no moral absolutes or moral rights or wrong, instead these types of decision are based on social norms (Carm, 2007). This theory helps decipher the ethical issue of the case by examining the perspectives of each player based on its social norm effect on the primary and secondary stakeholders surrounding the firms, particularly the stakeholders of the client receiving the consulting service. The decision performed by the company based on this issue can affect a variety of stakeholders. The key stakeholders are the two companies involved and the primary players. The consulting firm is obligated to follow sound and ethical practices based on industry standards. Their interest is satisfying the client to build up their reputation and retained the customer for future business opportunities. Posh Wipes is concern about the type of image the new firm is building up in among users of the type of products the firm produces. Any process for determining a best alternative process must identify possible alternative first to then narrow down the list to the best alternatives among the list. The key factor of this analysis to determine the best solutions is the ethical implication of the decision based on the needs of the company and their stakeholders. The two solutions that were more adequate at simplifying the elements of the decision and following a sound ethical framework for the new company are based on utilitarian ethical perspectives and relativism ethics with the utilization of ethical egoism as a neutral balancing variable among the two framework alternatives. The two actual solutions for the problem considering the ethical preferred ethical framework are switching from the strategic focus of using the competition as the key comparative basis and applying a campaign based on family values, highlighting the products strengths and displaying the social responsibility vision and accomplishment of the firm. The solution follows the utilitarian path. A second solution is to adjust the content of the comparative advertising technique to ensure a high quality, classy, unbiased message reaches the existing customer base in this market. To implement such a solution the decision maker must closely consider the perspectives or input-value the firm receives from the stakeholders to determine which adjustments are necessary based on the preferences of the stakeholders. The latter solution considers the relativism ethical perspective as the main ethical framework to validate the solution. The optimal solution for this problem among the two best solutions chosen using an integrated ethical analytical approach that used a combination of theories to evaluate the same issues in a different perspective. The theory used to balance out the opposite views of the utilitarian ethical perspective option and the relativism option was ethical egoism. The company had certain values, but the ethical egoism perspective proves that a business must think of higher power in which to base its decision, monetary implication that improved shareholder value. Egoism ethics helped eliminate the option of moving away from using comparative advertising, thus the optimal solution of the case is comparing the toilet paper with the top competitor with a conservative implementation which limits defamatory action against the competitor. The practical constraints of the solution is that despite the lower intension of not using language to confront the competition, the mere of start the use of a that type of advertising will immediate lead to a counterattack by the leading competitor utilized during the campaign. The decision Mr. Clive had to make in this case was not easy considering the corporate culture and high ethical standards of the company he works for. Ethics was considered in the entire decision making process. Focusing on ethics can help a company obtain brand recognition. In the case studied the utilization of an adjustment plan to the original potential solution is a variable that is serving the purpose of providing an ethically defensible solution for the company. Ethics are relative to the eyes of the beholder. Despite the company’s first intuition of not accepting the consultant’s recommendation the company followed a seven step ethical validation procedure that made the executives of Push Wipes changed their mind after realizing their original opinions on the topic was not the general view of the people and that the solution was ethically responsible and acceptable. References Britannica.com (2007). Ethics. Retrieved November 20, 2007 from http://www.britannica.com/ Carm.org. (2007). Ethical Relativism. Retrieved November 19, 2007 from http://www.carm.org/relativism/ethical.htm Cline, A. (2007). Virtue Ethics: Morality and character. Retrieved November 19, 2007 from http://atheism.about.com/od/ethicalsystems/a/virtueethics.htm Standord.edu (2002). Egoism. Standord Encyclopedia of Phylosophy. Retrieved November 22, 2007 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/ Maricopa.edu. Deontological Ethics. Retrieved November 19, 2007 from http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~bfvaughan/text/lex/defs/deontological.html Scu.edu (2007). Ethical perspectives. Retrieved October 11, 2007 from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/utilitarian.html Read More