Ethical modifications on marketing relations Essay

In this paper I will analyze and assess legal and ethical modifications on marketing relations as it relates to both consumers and organizations. This research will analyze three to five ethical issues that relates to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety. The discussion of arguing for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies will also be analyze. This paper will also determine who regulates compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme, what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could/should have done in the PharmaCARE scenario and whether the FDA should be granted more power over compounding pharmacies. Throughout this paper the decision on whether PharmaCARE’s use of Colberian intellectual property would be ethical in accordance with: Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue ethics, Ethics of care, and my own moral / ethical compass will be discussed. There will be an analysis discussed on the way PharmaCARE uses U.S. law to protect its own intellectual property while co-opting intellectual property in Colberia. A discussion will be determined at least three ways the company could compensate the people and nation of Colberia for the use of its intellectual property and the damage to its environment. Compare PharmaCARE’s actions with those of at least one real-world company whose creativity in skirting legal technicalities led to ethical lapses and financial loss. Be able to determine the success PharmaCARE and WellCo shareholders would have in suits against the companies. Determine whether or not PharmaCARE lives up to its brand. Recommend at least three changes PharmaCARE can make to be more ethical going forward. Ethical Issues Ethical issues are situations or problems that calls for a person to choose between two alternatives. In marketing and advertising ethical issues can arise when advertising weakens or undermines personal autonomy. Also, it promotes consumption as way of life and it destroys credence in the written or spoken word (Ethics, 2013). In intellectual property it creates a monopoly for firms and enables them to charge prices for their innovations that are more than the marginal cost of the production. When valuable products are given intellectual property protection this creates an ethical issues (Sonderholm, 2010). In regulation of product safety everyone within  the company are expected to act and abide by the company’s Code of Ethics or conduct (McBain and Balassone, 2012). As a result, of the ethical theories being used throughout this paper, one can see how the drug companies are important and what they need to do in order to obtain and maintain their clientele. The different t heories applied throughout this paper have discussed how important the theories are and how they can interrelated to better understand how drug companies operate. Overall, the drug companies should use the distributive justice theory to provide and distribute health care evenly to all individuals. Direct-to-Consumer There have been several different theories used to either argue for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. The ever increasing cost of health will continue to present health care issues and ethical challenges that will result in a better understanding of how to use ethical tools when looking for the best drug companies for an individual. Therefore, ethical theories and principles will help to focus on the clearer direction one must take in order to make a decision about one’s future. Regulates Food and Drug Administration State boards of pharmacy typically regulate compounding by pharmacies, but federal legislation also plays a role. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could have force PharmaCARE to shutdown because of how they were operating. They were operating under extreme working conditions. The people in Colberia were being exploited (hazardous working environment) and taking advantage of (wages). This type of working environment is unethical. The FDA will continue to provide proactive and for-cause inspections of compounding pharmacies, and FDA plans to take aggressive action, including enforcement actions, as appropriate to protect the public health and the people of Colberia. The FDA should be granted more power over compounding pharmacies because FDA has been conducting inspections of compounding pharmacies for cause and proactively to identify pharmacies with deficient sterile compounding practices. There have been more problems identified at compounding pharmacies across the country and the FDA intends to continue its inspection and enforcement efforts to address these problems, using currently available resources (FDA, 2013). PharmaCARE and Colberian Ethical theories represent the grand ideas on which guiding principles are based. The theories that will be used throughout this paper will discuss how important ethical theory is and when implement in a company how effective they will be for the company. The use of utilitarian refers to all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. In other words, the utilitarian approach implies that insurance companies should insure some type of insurance to all people because this makes unhealthy people healthier sooner than without insurance due to the cost and high price of physicians. The stakeholder’s theory implies that business ethics discussions are based on the responsibilities of the decisions from managers and executives (Luxury, 2007). Deontology Virtue ethics Ethics of care Own moral and ethical compass In Kant’s categorical imperative, he refers to how everyone should be treated as a free person and should be equal to everyone else (Luxury, 2007). Therefore, drug companies should not choose to do the same thing for the same reason for all their patients. In using adverse selection, it refers to how different individuals that are on one side of the market have better information than the other individuals do on the other side of the market (Luxury, 2007). The drug companies will offer the wealthy a cheaper price over the poor and this type of behavior is unethical. Therefore, the poor will start doing things that makes it hard for them to obtain the products from the drug companies. Health care is necessary to meet everyone’s health needs and thus to promote equality of opportunity, which is such an important value in American political culture. According to Childress (2000), he states that Dan Brock’s interpretation of health care is, â€Å"While health careâ €™s impact on people’s well being is fundamental to why justice requires that it be available to all, it is possible to capture most of this impact of health care under the concept of opportunity. It is health care’s role in promoting equality of opportunity that makes ensuring access to health care for all a fundamental requirement of justice† (30). Analyze PharmaCARE PharmaCARE uses the U.S. law to protects its own intellectual property by ensuring that the patents, copyrights and trademarks are protected. This enables people and other organizations to earn recognition or financial benefits from what they create or produce. Although, these rights extends only to the U.S. anyone who desires to patent, copyright or trademark protection in other countries will have to apply for to patent, copyright or trademark in each country that they choice because each country has their own patent, copyright and trademark law (Intellectual, 2013). Compensate the people of Colberia PharmaCare can compensate the people and nation of Colberia by cleaning up the environment such as using safe and healthy products to eliminate the hardzarous chemical smell and spill. They can offer the employees better wages and health insurance. By offering better wages for the people this can help them continue pour in revenue for their country, helping the country to begin to prosper. The company can also make the working conditions in the building better so that the employees will be able to come to work in a healthier working environment. If all of these suggestions are completed then the people and nation of Colberia can start to live a better life. Real Word Company Hospira manages it task environment in accordance with setting goals and working to meet the goals of the organization (Thompson, 2007). When the pharmaceutical company sets a safety goal is regards to OSHA’s goal, then they work vigoursly towards maintaining this goal, so they will not be in violation. They believe that this is a unique opportunity for human resource to step in and take the lead in developing tools and capabilities. This will help to identify and strike down on barriers that keep employees from doing their very best. According to Sullivan (2006), the challenges that need to be address are how to increase the output volume that the organization faces on a daily basis; what would be an innovation for continuous improvement; and what would the employee recommend to the organization for improvement and change.The critical part for human resources is being able to align  their mission and priorities of the organization and engaging the minds of employees in thei r work (Pomeroy, 2006). The challenges that need to be addressed are in organizational design, hiring the most talented person and moving people around to different locations. Success PharmaCare and WellCo The shareholders of PharmaCARE would have a stockholder’s derivative action against them because of the improper management of the company. According to Hill and Hill (1985-2005) stockholder’s derivative action is a lawsuit governed by corporation’s shareholders to help protect the corporation and shareholder’s benefits against any wrongdoings and improper management from the corporation. The shareholders of WellCo. have a stockholder’s action against PharmaCARE for failure to provide due diligence before the transaction of purchase took place. The company failed to provide all the necessary information to WellCo. and in return WellCo. is now responsible for all of the assets and liabilities that PharmaCARE created before the purchase. PharmaCARE is now free from all of the debt and liability the company created therefore, PharmaCARE success depends on the company’s continued products that are delivered to their clients without the adverse re actions of the development and marketing product of AD23. PhamaCARE brand The following information will determine why PharmaCARE lives up to its brand. When talking about the rational system perspective, PharmaCARE portrays their ability in this way because they enforces a strong urge for growth and with their concise and clear goals set, they have proven this and is maintaining their status. They have become a great organization by ensuring their rules and regulations are enforced (Scott and Davis, 2007). In the natural system perspective, they have highly motivated individuals who are willing to work harder and smarter to obtain a clear since of pride (Scott and Davis, 2007). They focus on their mission and vision statement and they stand by it in order for them and the organization to be prosperous. In the open system perspective, PharmaCARE has maintained the change and have grown to an organization of pride and prestige. They still invest in the right product and ensure they spend their money on profitable means. Therefore, making it cheaper for cons umers to buy their products and for the organization to make a profit. The major challenges that PharmaCARE  will be facing in the next two to three years will be how they will withstand their financial responsibilities and keeping their clientele. These challenges are most important because as PharmaCARE continues to make products they will continue to be introduced to new clients and they must be able to meet the demands of the clients. Their financial responsibilities comes into play when they have to try to come up with new products and if they are already over budget then the new products will not be able to be completed. In addition, by PharmaCARE trying to keep up with other pharmaceutical companies and clientele, this leads to the employees working longer hours and are not compensated for their work. This situation can end up with some of PharmaCARE’s employees leaving to work for the competition. Therefore, PharmaCARE must ensure that their financial and client responsibilities are met in order for PharmaCARE to stay a successful organization and meets the needs of their employees. PharmaCARE has implemented a human resource department and they focus on continued success within the organization. Although, the human resource department is a department of its’ own, this department runs the organization because everything must go through this department for any changes. Therefore, the change in thi s human resource department for PharmaCARE would be in the best interest for this organization. Recommendation I recommend the following actions for change with PharmaCARE for strategic purposes. They are analyzing, forecasting, planning, implementing and evaluating. In analyzing the overall workforce, planning system should be well thought out, systematic and documented. The effectiveness of planning depends on the detail, accuracy and reliability of the information sources. It is important to identify all factors that could influence future demand for outputs service as well as competencies of the internal and external supply of labor (Scott and Davis, 2007). Information that is gathered during the analyzing phase must be reliable and accurate. In forecasting, PharmaCARE should consider the future needs of the organization. One of the most useful outcomes is the identification of potential problems or issues facing the organization. The data collected from the information sources should help develop a gap analysis and emergent strategies to manage the future. It involves the identification of any predicted changes and  developments that may result from a demand and supply chain (Thompson, 2007). In planning, strategies initiatives, programs and policies should be developed to address the gaps within PharmaCARE. This will ensure that the recruitment and development will be critical of a needed staff for a successful workforce plan. In implementing, it is critically important to put together an implementation plan to carry out the planned activities included in the workforce plan. According to Scott and Davis (2007), this will be the process for using all the information gathered and devising a plan to execute the new strategies. In evaluating, there should be an evaluation of the workforce plan because this is imperative in determining if the devised strategies are addressing the gaps specified. It is important to obtain feedback concerning the effectiveness of outcomes from the plan. PharmaCARE should design a plan that would be more effective in the managerial and business aspect of the organization. A logical implementation plan for a human resource program for PharmaCARE would be to offer a new set of curriculum and qualifications opportunities that is truly built around the needs and as pirations of each employee. By matching the best employees in the organization, PharmaCARE would allow all employees to have opportunities to learn in ways, which motivate and pushes them to work harder for a successful and well deserve future (Mathis and Jackson, 2006). PharmaCARE’s human resource program works in the area of development, such that managers are mentors to supervisors. This allows growth and knowledge within the organization. PharmaCARE prides itself in being a successful organization and will be served better with the right approach to the implementation initiative. Human resources will have more flexibility in hiring, supporting and managing their people. PharmaCARE should do the following in order to become a more successful organization. Increased flexibility will strengthen accountability based on transparency, fairness and respect. Human resource management relations will become more collaborative with both management and employees working together to foster a mature, healthy and productive workplace. The goal is to make it easier to attract, hire, support and retain the best people. This is a great opportunity if it is done right, PharmaCARE will be a better place for people to work and will provide better service to th eir employees and customers. References Childress, J.F. (2000). Summary and Synthesis of Papers and Discussion at Ethics in Oral Health Policy Seminar. Retrieved from http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7E3F3CDF-B133-4503-B8C1-049793F869D9/0/Childress.pdf Ethics of Advertising (2013). Retrieved from http://www.carroll.edu/msmillie/busethics/ethadvertising.htm FDA Implementation of the Compounding Quality Act. (2013). U.S. Food and Drug Administration. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/PharmacyCompounding/ucm375804.htm Hill, G. & Hill, K. (1981-2005). Shareholder’s Derivative Action. The Free Dictionary. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/shareholder’s+derivative+action Intellectual Property Law and Policy. (2013). The United States Patent and Trademark Office and Agency of the Department of Commerce. Retrieved from http://www.uspto.gov/ip/ Luxury primary care-market innovation or threat to a ccess? (2007). The New England Journal of Medicine. Massachusetts Medical Society, 346(15) 1165-1168. Retrieved from http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/346/15/1165 Mathis, R. & Jackson, J. (2006). Human Resource Management. (11th Ed.). New York. Thomason-South-Western. McBain, J. & Balassone, J (2012). Product Safety Case Studies. Santa Clara University. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/product-safety.html Pomeroy, Ann (2006). Society of Human Resource Management. HR Is Mission Critical at the FBI. Volume 51, No.6. Retrieved from SHRM Online http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/0606/0606pomeroy.asp Scott, W.R., & Davis, G. (2007). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural, and open system perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Sonderholm, J. (2010). Ethical Issues Surrounding Intellectual Property Rights. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00358.x/abstra ct Sullivan, John. (2006). Workforce Management. HR’s New Opportunity: Removing Barriers to Productivity. Retrieved from http://www.workforce.com/section/01/article/24/38/30.html