Exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions — A consumer perspective of corporate ethics

This research provides a consumer perspective of corporate ethics. The study consists of twenty long interviews [McCracken, G., 1988. The long interview. Newbury Park, CA: Sage] with general consumers, and conceptualizes potential sources of consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) of a company/brand by investigating consumers' ethical perceptions of business behavior. The developed taxonomy delineates six domains and 36 sub-domains of CPE origin, relating to the impact corporate behavior has on: (1) consumers, (2) employees, (3) the environment, (4) the overseas community, (5) the local economy and community, and (6) the business community. Findings demonstrate disparities between the consumer and the business perspective and highlight the fact that sources of CPE prove considerably more diverse and complex than the literature suggests, therefore presenting a vital extension to existing research. By providing business managers with a comprehensive assembly of issues which may evoke un/ethical perceptions, the framework may serve as a code of business conduct to prevent, contain, or combat negative CPE.     

A management perspective on business ethics

In recent years the institutionalisation of ethics as a means of enhancing the ethical nature of business operations has received widespread empirical coverage. To date, however, few studies have been conducted in the Australian business context. This paper examines the institutionalisation of ethics by a sample of companies based in Perth, Western Australia. In particular, company representatives were asked if their company was institutionalising ethics, why this initiative was undertaken, how this was taking place and what specific issues were being addressed in the institutionalisation process. The results suggest that perceptions of external parties were the primary motivation for ethics institutionalisation efforts although there was also considerable focus on trying to internalise ethical values. In terms of how ethics were being institutionalised the responding companies were more likely to have conducted ethics training programs than to have written Codes of Conduct and in general it appears that few companies were developing comprehensive formal ethics programs. The primary issue covered by these institutionalisation efforts was the observance of laws.Geoffrey Soutar is the Professor and Head of School of Management and Marketing, Curtin Business School. He has an Economics Honours Degree, Master of Arts and a Ph.D.Margaret McNeil is a Senior Lecturer, Curtin Business School. She has an Arts Honours Degree, an Education degree and a Master of Business (Distinction).Caron Molster is a research assistant, Curtin Business School, and has a Bachelor of Business (Honours). She has an interest in business ethics, an area in which she undertook her honours research project.     

Corporate ethical consulting: Developing management strategies for corporate ethics

The increase of scandals in the business sector is forcing many companies to examine their corporate ethical behavior with a view toward rebuilding their corporate value system. This article describes how value-system reconstruction must proceed in a company and demonstrates that corporate ethics can only become plausible if based on a corporate ethical ethos. It outlines a five-step development plan of management strategies toward rebuilding a company's value system on this corporate ethos through: corporate policy and strategy reformulation; corporate ethical code promulgation and value-statement formulation; management ethical training and corporate ethical education; and corporate ethical performance evaluation. The role of the corporate ethical consultant is also outlined to illustrate how corporate ethical consulting can provide the specialized services designed to insure an enduring management ethical upgrading and to improve a company's corporate ethical performance record. The discussion indicates how corporate ethical consulting promotes good business through its capacity to deliver industry credibility and company security. Richard Guerrette is a Research Fellow at Yale University Divinity School, where he is conducting a research study in organization management process and corporate ethics. He is also a Lecturer in sociology at the University of Connecticut at Hartford and is an author of two books on ecumenical ministry and social movement organization in the church. He has published extensively in theological journals and has recently contributed an article on Environmental Integrity and Corporate Responsibility for the Journal of Business Ethics 5 (1986). He is the Director of Equipax, an organization/management consulting service in Farmington, Connecticut.     

Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance

Sustainability research highlights new challenges and opportunities for businesses. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ability of sustainable green initiatives when practiced as a corporate culture to individually create new opportunities for operations, management and marketing. According to current research, business opportunities exclusively available to different functions of a firm can drive its performance. The role of marketing in the achievement of superior performance by virtue of sustainability practices is also explained by the existing literature. Branding literature, however, fails to explain the influence of a brand on sustainability-driven opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. The objective of this study is to explore if a brand can strengthen the ability of sustainability-based green initiatives of managers to drive opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. A conceptual framework grounded in the triple bottom line theory is presented based on the assumption that brand as a stimulating factor can accelerate the conversion of opportunities available to a business into superior performance. Academic and managerial perspectives have been used to draw upon the implications of the model. Both practitioners and academic researchers will benefit from future research on this topic.     

Designing corporate brand experience in an online context: A qualitative insight

This study explores the dimensions and components of corporate brand experience in an Internet setting. Corporate brand experience (CBE), which is a source of a company's added value, could be an effective way to position a corporate brand in relation to the overall corporate marketing strategy. However, the concept of CBE has attracted very little attention from previous research, thereby our understanding of what the concept is and how to operationalize it is limited. Previous brand experience research is mainly focused on the conceptual understanding of brand experience itself, and/or the product brand level (rather than at corporation level). Understanding CBE is important because corporate brand equity (e.g. corporate image, brand loyalty) is dependent not only on how one is satisfied with the product (mostly addressed by functional/performance values of product), but also through the values of the corporation (corporate brand values). This study thus contributes theoretically to the corporate and online branding literature by proposing underlying new dimensions and components of CBE in an online environment. A series of focus group discussions (FGDs) with 32 online banking respondents informs the study. We identify five main themes and 26 sub-themes of corporate brand experience — corporate visual identity, functionality, emotional, lifestyle and corporate/self-identity. Financial service providers can address these dimensionalities during the process of brand positioning and when designing their corporate marketing in an online setting.     

Trust in online recommendations: an evolutionary psychology perspective

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is playing an increasingly important role in influencing consumer behavior, and it represents another opportunity for marketers to build support for their brands. This study explores how the gender of the reader influences how eWOM is perceived. An experiment grounded in evolutionary psychology examines how males and females differ in their perceived trust of eWOM of positive, negative, or mixed valence. The results indicate that females place greater trust than males in eWOM messages. But both genders find eWOM of mixed valence more trustworthy than entirely positive or negative eWOM. A follow-up phenomenological study of male and female consumers who had experienced eWOM shed more light on the experimental findings and offers additional support for their evolutionary basis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well as recommendations for further research.     

Innovation management in retailing: From consumer perspective to corporate strategy

This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services on innovation management in retailing from a consumer and corporate perspective includes seven papers. The papers cover a variety of interesting topics focusing on consumers׳ viewpoints and corporate strategies towards new advanced systems introduced at the points of sale. The issue is organised into two sections: (i) impact of new technologies on consumer behaviour (which includes new approaches for managing shopping experience), and (ii) corporate strategies (which includes retailers׳ actions and strategies). This introduction summarises the papers and identifies some empirical insights and contributions to the growing body of knowledge on innovation management that has appeared in the recent retailing literature.     

A corporate perspective on the management of human resources in China

Many large corporations have established a China center to coordinate and control their operations in the country. This article describes the roles played by the HR function in these China centers. As we explain, the China center’s HR function provides a variety of services to the MNC units in China, is typically responsible for HR policy making and implementation, and is a key vehicle for organizational learning about HR.     

Social capital: a review from an ethics perspective

Social capital has as its key element the value of social relationships to generate positive outcomes, both for the key parties involved and for wider society. Some authors have noted that social capital nevertheless has a dark side. There is a moral element to such a conceptualisation, yet there is scarce discussion of ethics within the social capital literature. In this paper ethical theory is applied to four traditions or approaches to economic social capital: neo‐capitalism; network/reputation; neo‐Tocquevellian; and development. Each is considered in detail and subject to ethical analysis by the application of utilitarianism, Kantianism, justice and rights, and ethic of care. Accordingly, the assumption that social capital is either value‐neutral or a force for good is critiqued, and a framework for understanding social capital from an ethics perspective is presented.     

The impossibility of corporate ethics: for a Levinasian approach to managerial ethics

The moral philosophy of Levinas offers a stark prospectus of impossibility for corporate ethics. It differs from most traditional ethical theories in that, for Levinas, the ethical develops in a personal meeting of one with the Other, rather than residing in some internal deliberation of the moral subject. Levinasian ethics emphasises an infinite personal responsibility arising for each of us in the face of the Other and in the presence of the Third. It stresses the imperious demand we experience to be open to, prepared for and impassioned with that which we may not know, or recognise, about ourselves or about the Other. Such a demand transcends our intellectual and/or rational potential; it involves us in a carnal and somatic bodily experience of otherness. If we are to speak of Levinasian ethics in a business context, it cannot be a matter of corporate ethics but only a matter of individual managerial ethics. What such an ethics would be like is yet to be outlined. This paper proposes a series of questions and suggestions that will explicate some key terms of a practice organised around a Levinasian vocabulary of otherness, responsibility, proximity, diachrony and justice.     

Leadership styles and corporate social responsibility management: Analysis from a gender perspective

Companies' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been only partially analyzed from an individual perspective that focuses on personal characteristics and professional backgrounds. However, a gap exists in the research on manager leadership styles and CSR perceptions from a gender perspective. Therefore, this article analyzes differences in attitudes toward various dimensions of CSR by focusing on the leadership styles—transformational, dominance, and dual perspectives—of male and female managers in Spain. A total of 391 respondents in top management positions in Spain were surveyed. The findings revealed similarities and differences between genders with respect to leadership styles and CSR perceptions by dimension using a univariate analysis. A causal model that employed structural equation modeling was also estimated. The findings suggest that for transformational and dual leadership styles, Spanish women may be more adaptable and effective at pursuing company sustainability than Spanish men. However, dominance leadership was found to be the worst leadership style for deploying a CSR strategy. A number of conclusions for business management can be drawn, and some directions for future research are provided.     

Exploring corporate citizenship and purchase intention: mediating effects of brand trust and corporate identification

Corporate citizenship represents various organizational activities and status related to the organization's societal and stakeholder obligations. This study develops five different dimensions of corporate citizenship and examines the relationship between the five dimensions and purchase intention by including two key mediators. In the proposed model of this study, purchase intention is indirectly affected by economic, legal, ethical, general philanthropic, and strategic philanthropic citizenship via the mediation of corporate identification and brand trust. Empirical testing using a survey of 353 consumers from various industries confirms most of our hypothesized effects. Last, managerial implications for corporate leaders and limitations of our findings are discussed in depth.     

The impact of brand authenticity on brand trust and SME growth: A CEO perspective

This article investigates the linkages between brand authenticity, brand trust, and SME growth from a CEO perspective. Brand authenticity is operationalized as consisting of three factors: brand consistency, brand customer orientation, and brand congruency. The hypotheses derived in this paper will be tested with new measures and data from 285 German SMEs using structural equation modeling. The results confirm that brand consistency and congruency foster brand trust, which in turn drives SME growth.     

Living downwind from corporate social responsibility: a community perspective on corporate practice

This paper critiques dominant corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory, which claims that commercial and social goals overlap and coincide. It is suggested that this uncritical portrayal and treatment of complex industry–community relations risks neglecting the potential tensions that may arise should these goals diverge or be in conflict. In this context, the experiences of residents in a small Western Australian town are presented to describe a long‐running conflict between community members and their corporate neighbour. The data point to a range of community impacts as a result of corporate activities and unearth strong differences between ‘local’ and ‘corporate’ understandings of CSR. Based on the perceived shortcomings of an economically underpinned CSR approach, we question the possibility of meeting local needs by means of economic efficiency. Calls are made for critical reflection on the key assumptions underlying dominant CSR theory and consideration is given to questions of guidance for CSR practitioners.     

Measuring customer-based place brand equity (CBPBE): an investment attractiveness perspective

Place branding has increasingly gained attention in last the two decades. However, there is a lack of measuring instrument for place branding effectiveness and subsequent place brand equity. This study develops a measurement instrument for customer-based place brand equity (CBPBE) for a place from the investment attractiveness perspective. Exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis were used which resulted in an 11-item CBPBE scale. The dimensions of the scale consist of brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. The study makes both theoretical and managerial contributions by offering a refined scale for the measurement of CBPBE which provides a tool for effective place branding activities and strategies.     

History matters: The role of history in corporate brand strategy

This article explores how an organization can use its history to define and deliver its corporate brand strategy. We specifically look at Adidas, which, having rejected its history at one stage, rediscovered and used the philosophy and ideas of its founder to provide direction for the future, legitimate strategic choices, and enrich the corporate brand. Through analysis of material evidence and interviews with senior and long-serving employees, we conceptualize the way Adidas developed a systematic approach to the use of history in its corporate brand strategy by creating the means to uncover, remember, curate, and then embed it. Combining the lessons of the Adidas case with evidence from other cases in which history was used to refocus and revitalize corporate brands, we deliver key recommendations for managers.     

Ethics as excellence: A strategic management perspective

Confidence in Australian business was severely shaken by the corporate scandals and collapses of the 1980s. Many commentators called for more emphasis on ethics education. This paper surveys the initiatives of Australian business schools and professional bodies and finds them superficial and ineffective. It then presents a case study in Quality Improvement which highlights the need to take a strategic and integrated approach to the development of core values such as quality, trust, ethics and social responsibility. In exploring the process of cultural change, the paper identifies a number of key leadership roles, responsibilities and competencies which are distinguished from the more traditional management functions.John Milton-Smith has been Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Curtin Business School, since 1990. He is currently conducting the Australian Business Ethics Project, part of which is reported in this paper. His other research interests include The Strategic Management of Corporate Culture, Global Business Strategy and International Trade Diplomacy.     

Imperfect markets: Business ethics as an easy virtue

This paper marks a radical diversion from the large body of prevailing literature in business ethics which primarily views the issue in individual-personal terms, i.e., corporate executive and employee, and suggests that making corporations more ethical would primarily come through changes in executive behavior. While this approach has strong intellectual roots in moral philosophy and religion, it fails in explaining the persistence of unethical and illegal behavior among corporations of all sizes, financial health, competitive market conditions, and, level of individual executive compensation. This paper argues for a fundamentally different approach to understanding ethical behavior, or lack thereof, among corporations and their executives. It is asserted that an overwhelmingly large rationale and/or inducement for proactive ethical business behavior is rooted in competitive aspects of particular markets, and industry structures prevailing in those markets. Furthermore, while highly competitive markets may promote efficiency, they do not guarantee ethical behavior and may indeed provide greater opportunities and incentives for unethical business behavior. Thus, by following the current prognosis, we could be wasting enormous resources in terms of teaching business ethics, and creating and imposing corporate codes of conduct. We assert that these approaches would at best make a marginal improvement in the ethical performance of corporations while at the same time exacerbate the problem by ignoring more fundamental, structural issues. Imperfect markets, with their above-market profits, are a necessary but insufficient condition for corporations to behave ethically. It is only under conditions of imperfect markets that individual executives can play an important role in guiding their corporations toward greater ethical norms. These are undertaken for a variety of reasons, including, protecting a corporation's good name, public expectations, competitive norms, and, corporate culture and individual executive's predilections, to name a few.S. Prakash Sethi is Professor and Acting Director, Center for Management, Baruch College, The City University of New York. He has widely published in the areas of corporate social responsibility, international business, business ethics, and corporate strategy and public policy. His most recent publication isMultinational Corporations and the Impact of Public Advocacy on Corporate Strategy: Nestle and the Infant Formula Controversy (Kluwer, 1994).     

Predictors of management development effectiveness: an Australian perspective

Management development is increasingly adopted by organizations seeking to attract and retain talented employees. This research project assessed the current state of management development in Australia. Specifically, this paper sought to identify variables associated with management development effectiveness. A model of management development effectiveness was developed and tested in this study through path analysis using the Analysis of Moment Structures Program. Data were collected from 206 managers in 153 organizations in Australia. Eighteen different industries are represented in the sample. The observed model had a good fit with the predicted model and all the predicted paths were significant and in the expected direction. Link to corporate strategy and opportunities for skill utilization were the two variables most closely associated with management development effectiveness. The implications of these findings for improving management development effectiveness are discussed.     

全过程品牌化管理:会议品牌建设的策略选择

会议经济的价值 某外国经济学家将会议的价值形象比喻为"如果在一个城市开一个国际会议,就好比开了一架飞机在这个城市上空撒钞票".会议的价值主要体现在两个层面:微观价值与宏观价值.其中微观价值亦被称为直接价值,即会议组织者所获利益和消费者的收获:前者包括因会议举办所获得的收入、会议品牌形象的拓展以及组织者社会形象的提升等;后者则包括会议给消费者所带来的企业形象展示、理念冲击、人际交流以及旅游娱乐等价值.