Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Second Edition

NORMATIVE MARKETING ETHICS

Organization culture plays an important role in building ethical capacity and ethical thinking in marketing. Existence of a champion, who values ethical conduct, preferably among the top management, is crucial for fostering an organization culture that values ethics. Such a champion preferably must be young. Says N. R. Narayana Murthy, ex-Chairman, known for championing ethical practices at Infosys, quoting Bernard Shaw: ‘If you’re not an idealist in your 20s you have no heart, if you’re an idealist in your 40s you have no brain.’¹²

Ethics must become a part of the marketing planning process. For example, one way to instil reasonable ethical values and develop moral standards in the culture of the organization is ‘by ...