Philip Morris Co Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Philip Morris Co - Case Study Example Production of a good quality product, testing it properly, marketing it in a proper way ensuring that no unethical means are used are some of the aspects of business ethics. In short, business ethics are the rules to ensure that the business causes no harm to other businesses, people and society in any way, be it morals and values or any other way. Being such a big international organization, Philip Morris holds great social responsibility. Adding to it the fact that it is a tobacco company, this social responsibility is even doubled. Many ethical issues are posed on it every day and the way it tackles these issues and makes its decisions accordingly, is one of the main factors that make it the leader of the tobacco market. Corporate social responsibility is defined by many people in many ways. Some define it as carrying out the business responsibly and properly giving the society economic benefits, while other define it as striving to solve world's different problems. In either case, corporate social responsibility refers to the act of an organization acting as a responsible part of the society and helping it in one way or the other. When talking about Philip Morris's Corporate Social Responsibility, the main issue is the question that w... Looking at these facts and statistics, it is not surprising if Philip Morris cannot be classified as a socially responsible company no matter how philanthropic campaigns they lead and how many worthy causes they serve to. In cases like Philip Morris, where the corporate goals and interests of the society go in totally different directions, it is very important for the company to incorporate corporate social responsibility in its corporate strategy in a much more integrated way as compared to any other organization. This is extremely important for companies like Philip Morris, the leader of a market that literally kills people. This issue, if not handled properly, can become so serious for the organization that it can become an issue for its survival in the market, since the society would always tend to reprimand any such business that poses such hazards to it and is totally incongruent to its values and interests. Ethical Issues associated with Marketing Practices Although ethical issues are frequent in almost all areas of the business for a tobacco company like Philip Morris, but the major issues are posed in the arena of marketing of its product. In 1998, after the conflicts of four years, the US government and Tobacco Market Leaders settled on an agreement. It tackled with the two most important and growing issues in the society; public health and underage access to the tobacco products. The settlement also required the industry to take necessary steps to ensure the reduction in underage access and underage consumption of the tobacco products. It created a National Foundation and a Public Education fund to make people aware of the hazards attached to tobacco consumption and educating them accordingly.