consciously try and develop a company culture that encourages open eth-
ical debate then the majority of staff will go along with decisions without
challenging them. Thus decisions will be implemented that could be chal-
lenged if seen from the perspective of someone from outside the immediate
social situation within the company. Even more difficult for organisations
is that if staff are given training in ethics then the individuals concerned
may just adhere to whatever stance is advocated by that training rather
than being prepared to challenge any dominate perspective.
One way to try and ensure that strategic marketing decisions are not
made that are intrinsically poor, as well as potentially commercially dam-
aging, is to put in place formal mechanisms to consider those decisions from
the perspective of each of the organisation’s wider stakeholder groups.
■ References
Aristotle, The Ethics of Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thompson, Penguin, New
York, 1976.
Bentham, J., Extracts from Bentham’s Commonplace Book, in The Works of Jeremy
Bentham, published under the superintendence of John Bowring, Vol. X, Tait,
Edinburgh, 1843, p. 142.
Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development,
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1982.
Friedman, M., Capitalism and Freedom, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962.
Friedman, M., The social responsibility of business is to increase profits, The New
York Times Magazine, 13 September, 1970.
Kant, I., Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, translated by Thomas
Kingsmill Abbott, 1785.
Kohlberg, L., Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Development
approach, in Lickona, T. (ed.),Moral Development and Behaviour: Theory, Research
and Social Issues, Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, New York, 1976.
Marx, K., Critique of the Gotha Programme, Marginal notes to the program of the
German Worker’s Party, April–May, 1875.
Owen-Jones, L., Interview with Lindsay Owen-Jones, The Mckinsey Quarterly,
Autumn, 1989, p. 41.
Soloman, R. C., Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business, Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1993.
■ Further reading
Fisher, C. and Lovell, A., Business Ethics and Values, Prentice Hall, London, 2003.
Trevino, L. K. and Nelson, A. N., Managing Business Ethics, 3rd edn, Wiley,
New York, 2004.
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