Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics and Social Responsibility from the Stakeholder’s View

From the stakeholder’s view, the role of ethics and social responsibility in developing a strategic plan is very important because company stakeholders are not only investors but have voting power that can affect the social and financial impact of a company. The voting power does come with a social responsibility to the employees and customers. Stakeholders must consider more than just the company's bottom line when using their power to shape company goals (Marquis, 2014).

When it comes to the company’s interest, the stakeholders have a social responsibility to act for the good of the entire company. Stakeholders must encourage policies that are based on more than pure financial gain. For example, stakeholders have the chance to capital growth if they merge the company's capitals into the parent company. However, the merger could limit the company's ability to serve multiple markets, delay its product diversification or create other problems. Stakeholders must strive for a strategy that focuses on long-term gain and growth for their company (Marquis, 2014).

Stakeholders must think through the interests of their market when fulfilling company policy or new business strategies. The needs and desires of stakeholders may not align with those of the consumers for which the company produces products. This can be an issue because it would distance its customers. Stakeholders must study the social impact of their segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) in the marketplace. The company's STP is the type of customer to which it sells products (segment), the advertising method it uses to reach that customer (targeting) and the current marketing advantage it has among competitors in the industry (positioning) (Marquis, 2014)..

Marquis (2014), “Monitoring and auditing is crucial ensuring that a company is socially responsible. Stakeholders must encourage strict regulations and ethical practices within...