In a world where globalization seems to be everywhere, emerge some notions as ethics, consumer policy, involving government and others organizations.
The aim of that is finally the well-being of people, more precisely, consumers.
The term “ethics” is used to define a system of moral principles and the process in which we know how to behave, to act, to react in society and with other people.
It defines also what is right or wrong to do in a specific situation for people sharing the same norms and values.
But it's basically more complicated to identify the impact of ethics in our current marketplace.
Moreover, consumer policy has to been taken into account; it's the way for consumer to be informed about what they buy, prevent sellers to sell anything at anything prices in bad conditions and so on…
Adam Smith, who was one of the first to affirm that people are selfish; he tried to understand how people could then have moral feelings, moral actions, reactions and judgement with others and forget a moment their natural but human self-interest.
On a first hand, we will define ethics and consumer policy in the context of the contemporary service sector to try to have a clear understanding of these concepts.
Then, we will analyse the roles and effects of ethics on our modern society.
Finally, we will identify and try to explain the roles and consequences of national and European governments.
[...] The commission in charge of consumer policy supports consumer organizations and try to develop consumer representation at a member state level as much as possible. There are European networks linked with national governments which are able to assist consumers in terms of cross border activities. The European Consumer Center Network (ECC-Net) is one of them; it advises consumers about shopping abroad, making the right choices, awareness of consumers' rights and offering them support in case of litigation. These national centers are situated in every member state; in the UK it's called the “Trading Standards Institute”, a non profit organization. [...]
[...] There are laws to protect consumers so that each consumer can take a company to court if he feels abused in the consumption process. But it depends mainly on the country you are in, culture has a high impact on ethical principles so companies have to be aware of the context, and have to adapt their product or their way of selling. Globalization, although it's a global phenomenon, won't have a uniform effect regards ways of thinking. The contrary happens, in fact, because we are not all equally susceptible to this trend, local cultures are paying more attention to their way of consumption. [...]
[...] Analysis of the role of ethics in organizational consumer policy and choice Ethics is increasingly positioning itself at the center of people's preoccupations now. The idea of consumer sovereignty implies that consumers are free to buy whichever product they want, it would have a direct impact on the success of a business and this choice is partly made from information disclosed by organizational consumer policy and government. Everything is closely linked and everyone has their own interests at heart in this process. [...]
[...] Evaluate the role of national and European governments in protecting consumers and providing consumer education. National and European governments play a main role in protecting consumers because they can influence every factor we noted before. Regarding culture, national as well as European governments could implement some advertisement or other in order to protect its customers. National or European governments can be considered as stakeholders of consumer process and ramparts against any abuse by multinational firms. But they are also in charge of protecting national companies from competitors sometimes. [...]
[...] References Business ethics, second edition, Andrew Crane, Dirk Matten, Oxford “Approaches to Risk and Consumer Policy in Financial Service Regulation in the Peter Lunt, Sonia Livingstone, Tanika Kelay, Laura Miller, Vol No Available on : http://www.qualitative- research.net/index.php/fqs/article/viewArticle/60 "Consumer Protection" Consumer Strategies and the European Market in Genetically Modified Foods, Johanna Gibson, Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, Vol Issue The BERR Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Available from: http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/index.html Website Government Social Research “Ethics in Government Social Research” Available from: http://www.gsr.gov.uk/professional_guidance/ethics_in_gsr.asp “Consumer Policy in a Market Economy: Considerations from the Perspective of the Economics of Information, the New Institutional Economics as well as Behavioural Economics”, [...]
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