GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education
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This Module introduces students to the role of ethics in branding and marketing practices around the world, with particular emphasis on Hong Kong and Mainland China. By examining moral concepts, behaviours and challenges relevant to the process of planning and implementation in branding and marketing practice, students learn to appreciate how value is created via moral decision making, systems and strategies.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. conceive branding practices from marketing moral principles
b. analyse the relationships between consumer choice, branding practices and organisation performance;
c. explain moral concepts and moral branding practices and how they interact with one another;
d. make relevant moral decisions concerning brand marketing mix elements (i.e., product, price, place and promotion) within a competitive framework;
e. formulate an acceptable moral brand marketing plan;
f. evaluate the moral implications of branding.
1. Understanding consumer behaviour and how consumers select a brand of product
1.1 What is consumer behaviour?
1.2 The consumer choice process
1.3 Do moral consumers exist?
2. Moral principles on Branding Practices
2.1 The utilitarianism approach
2.2 The deontology approach
2.3 A balancing approach in moral branding
3. Organisation branding practices
3.1 Organisation responses to consumer moral choice
3.2 The interactions between consumer moral choice and branding practices
3.3 Can moral branding practices enhance organisation sustainability?
4. Moral branding practices
4.1 Segmenting the moral market
4.2 Targeting moral consumers
4.3 Competitive framework
4.3 Moral positioning
5. Augmenting and developing the moral brand marketing mixes
5.1 Product/brand moral dimensions
5.2 Price moral dimensions
5.3 Place moral dimensions
5.4 Promotion moral dimensions
6. Brand marketing planning framework
6.1 Moral environmental market analysis
6.2 Target market analysis
6.3 Moral branding positioning and customer relationship management
6.4 The moral branding mix
6.5 The moral branding budget
7. Further topics related to moral morality
7.1 Consumerism
7.2 Marketing ethics
7.3 Organisational culture and brand morality
1. Class work (10%)
2. Assignments (30%)
3. Test (20%)
4. Examination (40%)
Textbooks
1. Murphy, P.E., Laczniak, G.R. and Harris, F. (2017). Ethics in Marketing: International Cases and Perspectives, NY: Routledge.
2. Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, J. and Ferrell, L. (2017). Business Ethics, Ethical Decision Making & Cases, 11th Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
3. Keller, K.L. and Parameswaran, A. (2015). Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Pearson.
Journal Articles
4. Al-Khatib, J.A., Vitell, S.J. and Rawwas, M.Y.A. (1997). Consumer ethics: a cross-cultural investigation. European Journal of Marketing, 31(11/12), 750-767.
5. Bone, P.F. and Corey, R.H. (2000). Packaging Ethics: Perceptual Defferences among Packaging Professionals, Brand Managers and Ethically-interested Consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 24, 199-216.
6. Fan, Y. (2005). Ethical Branding and Corporate Reputation. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 10(4), 341-350.
7. Ferrell, O.C. and Gresham, L.G. (1985). A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 49(3), Summer, 87-96.
8. Gundlach, T. and Murphy, P. (1993). Ethical and Legal Foundations of Relational Marketing Exchanges, Journal of Marketing. 57(Oct), 35-46.
9. Hunt, S.D., Wood, V.R. and Chonko, L.B. (1989). Corporate Ethical Values and Organizational Commitment in Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 53(July), 79-90.
10. Keller, K.L. (1993). Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(January), 1-22.
11. Keller, K.L. and Lehmann, D.R. (2006). Brands and Branding: Research Findings and Future Priorities. Marketing Science, 25(6), 740-759.
12. Lair, D.J., Sullivan, K. and Cheney, G. (2005). Marketization and the Recasting of the Professional Self: The Rhetoric and Ethics of Personal Branding. Management Communication Quarterly, 18(3), 307-343.
13. Low, W. and Davenport, E. (2005). Has the medium (roast) become the message? The ethics of marketing fair trade in the mainstream. International Marketing Review, 22(5), 494-511.
14. Morsing, M. (2006). Corporate moral branding: limits to aligning employees. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 11(2), 2006, 97-108.
15. Murphy, P.E., Laczniak, G.R. and Wood, W. (2007). An ethical basis for relationship marketing: a virtue ethics perspective, European Journal of Marketing, 41(1/2), 37 – 57.
16. Paine, L.S. (1994). Managing for Organizational Integrity. Harvard Business Review, March/April, 106-117.
17. Powell, S.M., Davies, M.A.P. and Norton, D. (2013). Impact of organizational climate on ethical empowerment and engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Journal of Brand Management, 20(9), 815-839.
18. Singhapakdi, A. and Karande, K. (2001). How important are ethics and social responsibility? A multinational study of marketing professionals. European Journal of Marketing, 35(1/2), 133-152.
19. Szmigin, I., Carrigan, M. and O’Loughlin. (2007). Integrating ethical brands into our consumption lives, Journal of Brand Management, 14(5), 396-409.
