The Zero-Impact Corporation , by Chris MacDonald, Ph.D.

File this under “Food for Thought.”
Last month I blogged about a Starbucks ad telling customers “Everything we do, you do.” (See: You Are Starbucks.) The idea implied by that poster was that all the stuff Starbucks does (in particular, all of its “corporate social responsibility” activities) is actually done by its customers — after all, [...]

Ghostwriters Paid by Wyeth Aided Its Drugs – NYTimes.com

By NATASHA SINGER
Published: August 4, 2009
Newly unveiled court documents show that ghostwriters paid by a pharmaceutical company played a major role in producing 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, suggesting that the level of hidden industry influence on medical literature is broader than previously known.
The articles, published in medical [...]

Moral Skill in Sales

This then starts to explain to me why, as a general rule, management that goes about fixing a sales problem with new controls, processes and incentive plans often find themselves just making the problem worse. “Customer focused” does not mean responding to every e-mail in one hour — it means honestly wanting the customer [...]

Consequences of Concessions Made to Large Customers

While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers and very␣large customers. SAM approaches have been widely␣adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managing␣relationships and partnerships [...]

Fostering Values

Scenario: I own a retail business which sells a variety of products to the public. Widgets are one item I sell and carry in three different brands. The Green Widget Company has a promotion where it will pay my employees $1 for each Green Widget they sell. If I allow my employees to participate :

Will [...]