Download Practical Exploration About Marketing Ethics Education for the Undergraduate EASTERN ACADEMIC FORUM

EASTERN ACADEMIC FORUM
Practical Exploration About Marketing Ethics Education for the
Undergraduate
SHI Jiaying1, SUN Ping2
1. Economy and Management School, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming City, Yunnan Province,
650500
2. School of Business, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming City, Yunnan Province,
650221
[email protected]
Abstract: Melamine, gutter oil, poisonous capsule and other issues have taken place frequently in China.
Strengthening management, designing balance mechanism, perfecting legal system are important
measures for controlling these issues, but they cost considerable time and money and they could not
help solve these issues thoroughly. Clearly, due to the temptation of money and interest, moral bottom
line is the key for self-discipline. Ideological education of college students has received the attention of
all the parties in our country since the university period is the formation time of morality. The course of
Marketing Management is widely set up for Finance and Economics majors, and its content and related
cases are suitable for the training of business ethics. With the method of sampling, comparison, case
analysis and empirical combination, this paper aims to reveal the current serious social problems by
investigation, and give the students the marketing moral education through the marketing practice
system. This education is based on analysis of teaching and construction of the college students. To
improve college students' ethics is to improve the quality of potential business managers or a consumer,
so introducing marketing moral education to the classroom, which is an innovative form of moral
education, helps to make the marketing behavior of self-discipline in morality and ethics. The lack of
"self-discipline" in present society is serious, and this education can make comparative advantage of
"self-discipline" outlined. Meanwhile, "risk warning" also makes "self-discipline" become inevitable.
Keywords: College students, Marketing ethics, Education
1 Preface
Marketing Ethics Education generally refers to teaching individual and group the experience of marketing
ethics, developing skills of marketing ethics, prompting risk of marketing ethics, advocating concept of
marketing ethics, informing right protection of marketing ethics and a series of social activity improving
marketing ethics and quality. Marketing ethics education usually includes the school marketing moral
education, family marketing moral education, social marketing moral education and self marketing moral
education to improve personal comprehensive quality.
In Europe and the United States, education reformers once thought that laws and democracy can solve
everything, rather than personal moral self-discipline. This kind of valuing intellectual education and
despising moral education caused serious social problem, in the 1960s and 1970s. Bribery, tax evasion,
financial fraud, illegal political donations, deceptive advertising, price collusion, product safety,
environmental pollution and a series of unethical behavior, once blocked the development of the economy.
After that, the developed countries began to focus on marketing ethics education. American studies how to
implement the marketing moral education subject -- theory of marketing moral education gradually
formed, which were promoted and implemented in professional curriculum design of many universities.
Britain put forward the slogan "solve moral problems by moral education", and set up marketing research
institute and curriculum of marketing moral education in some universities. Japan changed intelligence,
morality, physical of the education achieving target after world war II to moral, intellectual, physical in
sequence, and called for that the school moral education should have the same status with other disciplines,
and be set to the required courses.
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2 The Necessity of Implementing Marketing Ethics Education
2.1 Marketing moral landslide is a common problem
In the current construction of China's market economy, there appeared so many immoral behavior,
Hastening toxic bean sprouts, detergent twisted dough-strips, Sudan red, melamine, fakes liquor, fake
drugs and poison "capsule", "clenbuterol" surfaced in succession. According to the estimation of professor
He Dongpin from food science and engineering college, Wuhan University of technology, now the annual
quantity of gutter oil returning to the dining table in our country is 2 million - 3 million tons. Marketing
management practice of no moral capital, wealth unethical, as rich numbness (Cheng Siwei, 2008) even
reaches the situation which society cannot tolerate.
Drinking mineral water is probably the tap water every day, because someone had seen "bottle water
station" add tap water into the bucket. Producers of "gutter oil" think anyway their children do not eat
"gutter oil", other people's children eat. Regardless, just to make money is okay. Producers of "melamine"
think that their kids never drink milk. Finally producer of "gutter oil" drink milk, producer of "melamine"
eat "gutter oil". Poison each other's child, every kind of food we eat every day may not be safe. Chemical
concepts of most countrymen are strengthened in repeatedly trace and exposure of illegal food. However
reporters are very busy, after all, the thing being exposed is minority.
2.2 Potential problems of marketing ethics crisis
On the one hand, the business ethics of students tend to be serious in the campus. The pirated materials in
campus is the first choice of students; In marketing simulation practice course attended by 820 people of
three grades, 801 people choose selling "gutter oil" to earn greater profits. On the other hand, ideological
education in colleges and universities has made great achievements in recent years. However, because of
busy teaching work and scientific research in colleges and universities, the ideological work is often in a
passive and coping with state. The education of business ethics and marketing ethics is not the focus of
ideological education.
With the development of global economy and the impact of the various kinds of consciousness stream, our
social environment, bearing task and working procedure have emerged many new changes. Simple
thought education curriculum in practical work tends to cause student's rebellious attitude. In order to
adapt the change of the objective situation and make the college students ideological education much
closer to reality, closer to life, closer to the college students, the teacher is required to exert the educational
function of each course to actively explore resources of ideological education, and integrate the
ideological and political education into each link of college students' professional study [1].
2.3 Possibility problem of marketing ethics training
Education of marketing ethics is all-around, but the cultivation and exercise of marketing ethics will based
on college students can gradually radiate the entire society.
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Figure 1
Source: National bureau of statistics of the People's Republic of China: national economic and social development
statistical bulletin of the People's Republic of China in 2011 on February 22, 2012.
College student is a group, which transit to society and affect society, and is also a group with relatively
high quality in the Chinese society. Starting from 1998, institutions of higher education continued to
implement the enrollment expansion. In 2003, the scale of national domestic institutions of higher
education has reached 19 million people, school enrolments scale is at the top in the world. All of 2011
graduate students, college and university students and secondary vocational students, amount to 46.697
million. The period of China‟s popularization of higher education has been ten years. The cultural quality
of college students determine their higher plasticity of ethics quality. The numerous quantity of college
students determine that their spread to families and society is wider.
3 Practice of Marketing Ethics Education
All the courses of university has the educational function, all teachers have the education responsibility [2].
It is necessary to utilize some possible methods to strengthen students' ideological work and improve the
marketing ethics cultivation.
First of all, the talent training in university lies in imparting knowledge and educating people. Certainly,
ideological and political education at the primary position of talent training was mainly realized through
the classroom teaching [3]". Teaching of marketing management is the science which studies the process of
enterprise marketing management and its law. It is a comprehensive, practical and applicable subject. Its
mission is to enable students to master the basic principles of marketing management and the basic skills,
to train students' management ability, operation ability, strategic and tactical decision-making ability of
marketing management. It can fully embody the ideas of social management, enterprise management,
humanism management, and realize the operation making marketing moral education entering into the
classroom. This operation was accomplished by practice investigation, comparison, case analysis, risk
analysis, improvement of self consciousness and social responsibility.
3.1 Process about survey and learning
Market research is one of the marketing course contents, and the purpose is to make students master the
research methods and understand the status quo of marketing ethics, and cultivate the spirit of business
and regain business ethics in marketing teaching. The implementation survey students come from three
grades, there are five classes each grade, a total of 6808 people, and the time is three years.
(a) Survey methods: Abstract and empirical analysis; Sampling survey, special typical survey, combined
with case survey; Combination of longitudinal, transverse and queue continuity survey; Cross multidisciplinary, application of system science. To solve the problem of contradiction proposition true and
false. We refer to science and technology, to establish perfect information database. The process is:
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(b) Content of the survey:
(1) Content of off-campus survey-Bad market moral behavior survey
(2) Content of internal survey-Marketing moral education research
Go to the wholesale market, canteen, etc. where students consume. and investigate the problem of
marketing ethics, and spiritual communication and learning interaction through the network;
Questionnaire investigation, doled out questionnaire 5200 for three times. The actual recycling effective
questionnaires were 5164, recovery rate was 99%, Aimed at reliability and validity of question related to
"marketing moral education undergraduate questionnaire", we make analysis, verification and correction.
This process can be summarized as follows:
Through investigation, analysis and discussion, to improve students' self-awareness, self-improvement,
honest culture, reshaping the business spirit and putting forward some suggestions.
3.2 Data analysis (only select part of the typical survey content to analysis the harm)
Survey of off-campus content:
(a) Polished rice
"Industry insiders said oil polished rice has become a hidden rules". Make the aging rice, rice with low
level quality or mildew rice good-looking by polishing, waxing, adding additive such as artificial colors,
flavors, thus sell at high price, and get great profits. Now someone make normal fresh rice bright, white,
smooth and fragrant by polishing, waxing, adding ingredients to cheat the customers who prefer the
beautiful rice. The rice usually feels very smooth, and there will be no legacy of rice husk ash, but
creates a loss of broken rice, cause waste, loss of nutrients, fats in rice go rancid easily. There is a big
damage to human body for long-term consumption. In 2011 new standards of using food additives
published by the ministry of health, additives which can be used in rice include starch phosphate ester
and double sodium acetate and sodium acetyl chitin, that is to say, any other additives are illegal. (Xie
Zhun) this student bought some bulk rice in Kun Ming region for experimental study, other students
reviewed multiple times.
Brand
purchase place
the
autumn
seleniumrich rice
Bulk
of
long-shaped
rice
The
royal
tribute rice
Paddy Aroma
rice
Yipin autumn
The first city shop
with
South
Asia
customs of Carrefour
The first city shop
with
South
Asia
customs of Carrefour
Table 1
unit
price
Outside view
(RMB/kg)
Presence of
rice bran
7.20
glittering and translucent、fragrance
No
3.80
lightly shiny, white rice is more, the
basic no fragrance
No
wal-mart DA GUAN
6.90
wal-mart DA GUAN
9.00
Wal-mart DA GUAN
9.20
shining, glittering and translucent get
rid of is appeared, fragrance free
light, glittering and translucent get rid
Of is appeared, fragrance free
Light, glittering and translucent get rid
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No
No
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rice
of is appeared, fragrance free
Shining, glittering and translucent get
rid of is appeared, with a small amount
of white, yellow rice
Light, glittering and translucent get rid
of is appeared, fragrance free
Light, glittering and translucent get rid
of is appeared, fragrance free
Akita
Komachi rice
The first city shop
with
South
Asia
customs of Carrefour
4.80
Mi Le rice
Wal-mart DA GUAN
10.00
No
Small
supermarket
near sunshine garden
4.00
Meng
Zhalong Ubon
Ratchathani
rice
(Thailand)
The first city shop
with
South
Asia
customs of Carrefour
20.20
(packaged
rice
conversion)
Long grain and smooth, clear white,
slightly shiny
No
Rice bought
from farmers
Mi Le
12.00
Germ significantly with a white, basic
lacklustre, rice has a translucent, white
or pale yellow color such as rice bran
Yes
No
No
No
After test, we got the following conclusions.
Sample
1
2
3
4
Table 2
5
6
7
8
9
10
Buy
from
farme
rs
Brand
the
autumn of
seleniumrich rice
Bulk of
milled
The
royal
tribute
rice
Rice
fragrant
flowers
Yipin
autum
n rice
Akita
small
town
Mi
Le
rice
No
Meng
Zhalong
Ubon
Ratchath
ani rice
glossy
a lot of oil
droplets
a small
amount of
oil
droplets
oil
drople
ts
oil
droplets
oil
droplet
s
a lot of oil
droplets
oil
drop
lets
a lot of oil
droplets
No
No
conclusion
Serious oil
polishing
Slight oil
polishing
Oil
polish
ing
Oil
polishin
g
Oil
polishi
ng
Serious oil
polishing
Oil
polis
hing
Serious oil
polishing
Polishing
without
oil
Not
polis
hed
(b) Investigation about snacks around the primary school
Sampling survey around 25 primary school in Yunnan province, 526 questionnaire were given out for
sample, including snacks stalls, rural grocery, small stalls beside the county streets, there is a big
problem existed in the food that primary school students like to consume and a large proportion of this
students buy this type of goods.
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Figure 2 The proportion of primary school students surveyed who have bought the food
Product description: "the pentagon package" is all kinds of food, which is 0.5 Yuan for a pack; The "smoke" bag,
whose packing box was made like the cigarette case, contains several small food like cigarettes; "Millet slag" were
drink with all kinds of flavors and different bright colors; "Star seed", whose packaging is similar to the jelly,
include dark chocolate and round biscuits, it is 0.1 Yuan for one, and is a "three no" product.
(c) The antibiotic drug sales investigation
The respondents are 52 drug retail outlets in Kunming, and 508 questionnaires.
Sulfa, amoxicillin, roxithromycin, spiramycin are equipped with counters in 52 pharmacies, but they can
be purchased without showing 100% of the prescription; 34% of who need the antibiotics drugs are
going to buy these drugs themselves as the fee of hospital clinic is too high; about half of them purchase
antibiotic drugs because the misconceptions of antibiotic drugs. From Figure 2, we can see that the users
of antibiotics drugs accounted for 74%, only 25% do not use antibiotics drugs.
Figure3 The usage of antibiotic drugs of respondents statistics
purchase
never
26%
occasionally
48%
frequently
26%
From Figure 3, we can see that more than half of the people know that using antibiotic drugs have side
effects; and 28% of people believe that using antibiotics drugs are safe; while 21% of people do not
understand the knowledge of how to use antibiotic drugs.
Figure 4 The understanding situation of antibiotic drugs statistics
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The main risk of misusing antibiotics is that it will promote bacterial resistance enhancement; nearly
half of the patients were on the misuse of drugs. Some patients have doctor's prescription, but the
situation that doctors abuse antibiotic drugs existed, too. Although more than half of the people know
that using antibiotic drugs have side effects, they still use antibiotics drugs just because the erroneous
understanding of antibiotic drugs and the fee of hospital clinics is too high. Prescribed by the State
(2007), only by practicing physicians prescription can pharmacy sell antibiotic drugs to patients,
however, the pharmacies do not perform the provisions of the State. The marketing of antibiotics and the
convenience to purchasing antibiotics is one of the causes led to antibiotics abusing.
3.3 Comparison, cases and survey analysis
(a) Analysis objects
Firstly, the comparison of long, short-term behavior and effects
Take full advantage of the practice survey results, combined with the short-term behavior in the
marketing and long-term brand building of the enterprises, fully aware of the significance of enterprise
and social development brought by the purification of the official wind, folk custom and the social
atmosphere.
Secondly, contrasting and learning experience at home and abroad
For example: “where does Japan's waste oil go?”, “United States: the indiscriminate using and
indiscriminate selling should be closed”, “Germany: every barrel swill has its „identity card‟” and so on.
Many foreign countries and enterprises established a set of anti-corruption system and corporate culture
gradually and effectively after experiencing the throes of serious corruption, and also formed a sound
development of the culture and institution, their social marketing building, practicing and promotion are
worth to learn.
Thirdly, contrasting the case of success and failure
For example: Sanlu milk powder case, Green A case, advocating students fun learning, pleasure of life,
fast-growing in teaching; changing the "indoctrination" mode and replace them with heuristics,
case-based teaching methods; using multimedia methods which is loved by students to make education
vividly.
(b) Typical problems Analysis (only part of the typical investigation and learning content)
Survey questions in schools
(1) “The business road” and road of marketing is to “make money” (to maximize the interests of the
company) or “earn people‟s minds” (to maximize the interests of the community).
After analyzing a large number of cases and the two surveys Table 3, we get different results Table 4.
Table 3
Project
Maximize the interests of
the company(make money)
Maximize the interests of the community
(earn people‟s minds)
Before analysis
92%
8%
After analysis
5%
95%
At the beginning of the students think that the marketing is to make money, however, through case
studies they recognize the problem of long-term interests and short-term interests of the enterprise, and
the relation between social interests and brand value. In the era of social marketing, social interests are
more important than the interests of the enterprise.
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Before analysis
Table 4
Maximize the interests of
the company(make money)
52%
Maximize the interests of the community
(earn people‟s minds)
48%
After analysis
71%
29%
Project
The survey showed that college students need to be educated, and can be educated. Most students
choose the social (national) interests equal to long-term interests in facing personal and national
interests.
(2) Commercial bribery tends to occur in the marketing process, will you do?
Table 5
Project
To Bribery
Can‟t pay bribes
Going to do
Not going to do
Before analysis
90%
10%
72%
20%
After analysis
15%
85%
16.55%
81.5%
Figure 5
Prior to analysis, 90% of students think that the biggest selling point in the producer market is bribery,
only to pay bribes can people reach a bulk buying behavior.
Through case analysis At home and abroad and risk Calculation (expectations, the marked difference,
the coefficient of variation), with the system construction, the passage of time, the increase in wealth,
bribery risk will increase, but we can not do it, and not worth doing bribery. Therefore, 75% of the
students dispel the idea of reaching a deal through bribery. Changing certain ideas may be difficult, but
the important thing is really to change.
3.4 Risk education
Marketing and moral education is to clear faith, innovate system construction, strengthen the system of
education, conduct risk warning. Marketing moral hazard is bound to pay the price, “ insisting on
fighting „tigers‟ and „flies‟ together, both investigate and deal with leading cadres violating law and
discipline cases resolutely and solve irregularities and corruption in the side of the masses effectively
(Xi Jinping 2013)”. China has always attached importance to the building of clean government system,
and has formulated and implemented Chinese Communist Party Supervision Regulations (Trial),
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Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Regulations, Executive Civil Sanctions Ordinance,
Implementation of Party and Government Leading Cadres Interim Provisions of Accountability, Chinese
Communist Party Inspections Ordinance, The State-owned Enterprise Leaders Honest Business of
Certain Provisions and a series of anti-corruption normative legal documents, legal system for the
anti-corruption framework has formed initially. Because solving system problems are more important
than ideological problems, and solving system problems has more fundamental nature. Solution of many
problems in real life, only criticism or only solve the problem in terms of ideology does not work, but
also have to study and solve system problems. People are living in the system. People will not positive if
it implements this system. But if it implements another system, people will be active. Solving the
problem of the relations of production, need to solve the problem of production unite relationship, that is,
a variety of system problems, not only to solve a problem of ownership. People obey the system but
does not obey people themselves”. Accounting system, accounting standards, accounting are all systems,
that are, the internal control system to prevent corruption. “It is necessary to strengthen the system
construction combined with strengthening the ideological and political education”.
In a old saying, “one hundred behaviors are led by virtue”, university education is the moral education,
marketing learning must obey virtue, cultivate virtue, accumulate little virtue to form great virtue.
References
[1]. Zhou Ji. "Create a new situation of college ideological and political education", Guangming daily on
October 21, 2004. (in Chinese)
[2]. Chen Xi. "Programmatic literature about guiding college students' ideological and political
education", Guangming daily on October 21, 2004. (in Chinese)
[3]. The central committee of the communist party of the state council. "Opinions about further
strengthening and improving college students' ideological and political education", People's Daily
Online on October 14, 2004, (in Chinese)
[4]. Biography of Mao Zedong, 1949-1976, P472, (in Chinese)
[5]. Jiang Zemin To strengthen and improve the inner-party supervision, January 26, 1996, (in Chinese)
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