dilemma for marketing managers

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DILEMMA FOR MARKETING MANAGERS

INTRODUCTION

Many smaller organizations often function with smallbudgets and minimum attention to marketing. This is especiallytrue among business-to-business marketers. When smallorganizations develop and implement marketing plans, thoseplans usually contain large doses of inexpensive creativity. But

creativity may cross ethical lines. A significant issue facingmarketing decision makers in smaller, budget-constrainedorganizations is whether creative and successful marketingactivity contains elements that strain acceptable ethicalbehavior.

The job of marketing manager is day by day becomingmore challenging. A marketing manager faces many situation inwhich he or she has to behave unethically.

Now a day, we can see that there is a strong competitionin almost every market or industry. It is very difficult for anethical person to survive in it. Every person faces the dilemmaof taking the decision ethically or not. We cannot satisfy everystakeholder of the company. If marketing manager thinks aboutthe performance of company, he/she has to compromisesomething for it.

In Industrial Marketing, there are fewer customers. Thecompany is always tries to retain the customers becauseloosing one customer is like loosing a big share of revenue.Marketing manager is always under pressure of retainingcustomers anyhow.

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LITRETURE REVIEW

J. Scott Armstrong of The Wharton School, University ofPennsylvania Studies in social psychology suggests that the roleof the marketing manager causes good people to act in waysthat are harmful to society. This is especially true for largeorganizations. That study provides little hope that one couldeducate marketing managers to be socially responsible. Theseindividuals already recognize the conflict; they view themselves

as good people; but they are obedient to their role as definedby their primary reference group.

John J. Withey of St. Edwards University says thatmarketing practices should be regularly examined for theirethical context so that potential dilemmas may be anticipatedand resolved. The special case of the small organization seekingregional expansion summarized in this paper demonstrates howeasily ethical dilemmas can arise.

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WHY THIS TOPIC IS RELATED TO INDUSTRIALMARKETING

There are professional buyers in industrial marketing. In

industry, marketing manager has to perform his/her job in such

a way that the long-term relationship can be built. For this

reason there is a dilemma of marketing manager in decision

making.

Managers are forced to compromise their personal

standards to achieve companys goals. So this is the most

important topic in todays scenario to understand the typical

situation faced by the marketing manager.

In industrial marketing the customers are more powerful.

They are professional buyers. They do bargaining and also

believe in taking something extra with regards to product or

services. To retain these customers, marketing managers face

the dilemma of behaving ethically or unethically.

Individual ethics plays an important role in industrial

marketing. If a person believes in being loyal to the company,

he/she will never behave unethically with company but for the

betterment of the company he/she can behave unethical to thecustomer.

Many a times marketing manager knows that the product

they are selling is not good or other better product with a low

price is already available in the market. In this situation

ethically what they are doing is not right but if they make

customers aware about other good product, they will loose the

customers.

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PROBLEM FACED BY MARKETING MANAGER

ORGANISATION POINT OF VIEW

Why their C.E.O. involve in their Marketing Strategy

o Possibility 1 They Not Agrees On Their Marketing

Strategy

o Possibility 2: When The Marketing Manager Can Not

Achieve The Target'

o Possibility 3: It Probably Wasnt The CEO WhoDecided The Definition And Scope Of 'Marketing',When The Marketing Manager Was Created

o Possibility 4: The Marketing Manager Always Dress

For The CEO

And Many Others.

SOCEITY POINT OF VIEW

Why People Think Marketing Managers Are Selfish.

Why Marketing Manager not socially Responsible.

Why they sale harmful product like tobacco and etc to

society.

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MARKETING DEPARTMENT POINT OF VIEW

Product Development Pricing Policy

Distribution Activities

Promotion

EXAMPLES

Good marketing ethics affect organizational success.Ethics are the principals a person or department uses when

making a decision. Sometimes, the choices are clear cut rightand wrong. Often, they are more ambiguous ethical dilemmas.Marketing departments face their own particular set ofuncertain problems pertaining to product development, pricingpolicy, distribution activities and promotion.

Misleading advertising is a common ethical dilemma.Although regulation provides formal boundaries of what anadvertisement can and cannot say, marketers must consider

the ethical boundaries. Defining when a claim is taken too far ora problem is intentionally, or unintentionally, hidden from thetarget market is one of the roles of ethics in marketing.

Another dilemma is the marketing of harmful products-forexample, tobacco and fast food. Marketers must decide howmuch responsibility they take for the harm which theseproducts cause and how much they delegate to consumers orproducers. Again, the right choice is not always clear and this iswhere good ethical marketers can step up.

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Marketers should attend to pricing ethics. Predatorypricing, the practice of setting prices to drive out competition,can be harmful to consumers so marketers must treadcarefully. Policy designed to foster a healthy marketing

environment must be balanced against profit requirements.

How cause-related marketing is managed can becomeanother ethical dilemma for marketers. The sincerity of acompany's interest in a particular cause-the environment oreducation can impact on customers' and society's perception ofthat company. Marketing departments responsible for therelationship with a cause must manage it openly and honestly.

How their product affects the environment is of increasingconcern to marketing departments. 'Green' practices canimprove the good standing of a company and marketingdepartment in the community. Marketers may be challenged bythe costs of some environmentally-friendly choices but mustconsider their responsibility to society.

Many other ethical issues confront marketing executives.How clearly and in what way consumers are informed of priceor size changes must be weighed against costs. Marketing

departments of resellers must consider the ethics behind theirmark-up policies. Distribution issues include quality oftransport. For example, fresh food requires healthy transportconditions.

Ultimately, ethics relates to organizational performance ingenerating goodwill for a particular company. This goodwillshould translate into sales. Ethical behavior by the marketingdepartment will make the department and even the company a

more attractive place to work as the company's good reputationwill transfer to its employees. Motivated, proud employees willimprove performance. Bad marketing ethics will destroy a goodreputation which is arguably much harder to build than salesnumbers.

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HOW TO SOLVE ETHICAL PROBLEM ANDMAKING DECISION

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This is The Rational Problem-Solving Process; I had taken itfrom book The Principles and Practice of Marketing of David

Jobber from McGraw hill Education. This is chapter 12 Ethicalproblem solving and decision making.

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Problem awareness

A major responsibility for all managers is to maintain aconstant lookout for actual or potential problems. Managers dothis by keeping channels of communication open, monitoringemployees current performance, and examining deviationsfrom present plans as well as from past experience. Foursituations usually alert managers to possible problems: Whenthere is a deviation from past experience; when there is adeviation from a set plan; when other people communicateproblems to the manager; and when competitors outperformthe overall organization. The Dynamics of Diversity box showshow try to keep ahead of the competition. Being aware thatproblems exist is not always easy, however. People may begenuinely unaware of a problems source or reluctant toacknowledge that a negative situation actually exists. Theproblem may appear threatening to them, they may fearreprisal from a supervisor for their share of the responsibility, orthey may not want to be considered inept.

Problem definition

If the problem is not defined clearly, any attempt atsolving it will be doomed to fail because the parties involvedwill not really know what they are working on (as the sayinggoes, rubbish in equals rubbish out). All the remaining stepswill be distorted because they will be based on insufficient orerroneous information. Lack of information often inhibits thegeneration of adequate alternatives and exploration of

potentially negative consequences. All necessary informationshould be gathered so that all relevant factors can be analysedto determine the exact problem that must be solved. The goalis to determine the root causes of the problem. If instructionforms are constantly misinterpreted, for example, are the formsincomplete, or is the required information poorly supplied?Causes should not be assumed; instead, all plausiblealternatives should be investigated before settling on the mostprobable cause(s). Hasty assumptions can also result in

symptoms being mistaken for sources of problems.

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When symptoms are eliminated, it is often mistakenlyassumed that the problem has also been eliminated. This is likereceiving medication from your doctor to control a skin rash,which is only a symptom that something is wrong. Themedication clears the rash, but the actual cause of the problemis not identified until you and/or the doctor look for clues. Whenyou discover that the onset of the rash coincided with thearrival of a new plant in your living room, you have identifiedthe problem: an allergy to that plant.

Decision-making

After information has been gathered and goals have beenclarified, situations assessed, and problems identified, the nextstep is to develop a particular course of action that will either

restore formerly acceptable conditions or improve the situationin a significant way. Since there is usually more than one way tosolve a problem, it is critical to keep open to all possiblesolutions and arrive at several alternatives from which tochoose.

Action plan implementation

A decision and action plan is of little value unless they areeffectively implemented. How the action plan is to beaccomplished connects the decision with reality.Implementation includes assigning tasks and responsibilities,and establishing an implementation schedule. Take a look atthe Eye of Ethics box as to what happens when a governmentimplements a decision in the foot-and-mouth crisis.

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Follow-through

Following-through entails the development and maintenanceof positive attitudes in everyone involved in the implementationprocess. There are several guidelines to help establish the

positive climate necessary for the implementation steps whichfollow:

Visualize yourself in the position of those doing theimplementing so that you understand their feelings andperspectives.

Establish sincere respect and concern.

Make sure necessary resources are available.

With this kind of positive climate set up, there are severalsequential steps in the follow-through process. Theyinclude establishing the criteria for measuring success,monitoring the results obtained, and taking correctiveaction when necessary.

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CONCLUSION

Marketing practices should be regularly examined for their

ethical context so that potential dilemmas may be anticipated

and resolved. The special case of the small organization seeking

regional expansion summarized in this paper demonstrates how

easily ethical dilemmas can arise. Marketing manager is a chain

between customer and company. He/she has to compromise

something to satisfy both. Marketing manager usually gets

confused about whom to give more priority. There is no generalrule for that, it depends upon situation.

Many companies consider themselves as ethical but in

practical, their employs have to behave unethically in some

situation to run the company successfully.

From this study, we also find that, the role of marketing

manager is very challenging. They have to do compromises of

their personal morals to perform the job.

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dilemma for marketing managers

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