Just Because the Competition Is Doing It!
When it comes to marketing, some companies hire people to infiltrate competition. They know exactly what the competition is doing almost before a project or product is launched. This situation is common among manufacturers (food products, electronics, apparels, toiletries and other consumable items), service companies, communications and, television networks. As observed, communication companies almost have the same marketing strategies while, television networks’ have the same program set-up almost at the same time like, news reporting, talk shows, variety shows, cartoons, sports and others. .
There are companies wherein infiltrators posed as utility and telephone workers to gain access to restricted areas. Some even pay janitorial staff for trash from the executive suite with the intention of finding the latest about competition. And other unethical activities in order to build a bigger customer base by buying data base of competitors. There are companies that even maintain budget for this purpose.
On the other hand, prestigious companies are still winning against competition in a manner wherein ethical business practices are observed. They allocate huge budget on product research and development and conduct survey on customers’ needs. Strategic planning is practiced and promotional and advertising spending is properly allocated.
Each country has its own Marketing Association which is committed to ethical professional conduct among its members. As such, they have joined together in subscribing to the Code of Ethics on the following areas: Responsibilities of the marketer, honesty and fairness, rights and duties of the parties in the marketing exchange process and organizational relationships. And more importantly, to follow the ‘GOLDEN RULE”.
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