Marketing Ethics Theory and Pedagogy

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Ethics for Theory and Pedagogy. Answer: Introduction `The first EU-wide Net Neutrality rules were developed and adopted as well in October 2015 (Open Internet, 2017). The major focus of this particular study is to examine the regulation with respect to the ethical ground. Therefore, four ethical approaches such as the Utilitarian theory, Deontological theory, virtue theory and the contract theories have been considered in this study. Thus, this study aims to identify an ICT related issue based on which the ethically questionable right or wrong situation in regards to the regulation through the four theories. The rules implemented by European Union on net neutrality apply as of 30th April, 2016 by following the adoption of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2020 on 25th November, 2015. This particular regulation has become the key achievement for the Digital Single Market (Open Internet, 2017). In Digital Single Market, the free movement of capital, services and persons is assured and where the businesses and individuals can exercise and access seamlessly the online activities under the conditions in regards to the fair competition as well as a high level of personal and consumer data protection irrespective of their place of residence or nationality. Thus, this regulation has created the enforceable and individual right for the end users for distributing and accessing the internet services and content of their choice. Common rules governed by EU over the net neutrality assure that the similar provisions apply over the entire Europe. Identification of ICT-related Ethical Issue The major ICT related issue along with this study is the ICT professionalism. The rules mainly enshrine the net neutrality principles which are associated with no discrimination or throttling or blocking of the online services, applications and content (Cestone, 2014). According to this rule, every European must be capable of accessing to the open internet. On the other hand, all the service and content providers should be capable enough for providing their services over the open internet with high quality. This particular regulation also governs few ICT related issues. The net neutrality services and applications are not capable enough of providing the electronic communication services other than the services of internet access for that particular quality levels those are not ensured by the services of internet access are essential (Open Internet, 2017). This particular scenario can be analyzed by applying four major classical ethical theo ries. In other words, with the help of these theories such as Utilitarian, Deontological, Virtue and Contract theory, the ethically questionable situation can be analyzed for determining the wrongness or rightness of the decisions or actions made therein. Application of Utilitarian Theory This theory can solely place the locus of wrong as well as right on the outcome or the results to select one policy or action over the other policies and actions. The major principle of this particular theory is rule-utilitarianism, which is utilized in terms of determining the validation of the rules of conduct. On the other side, this theory also has another significant principle known as Act-utilitarianism. It is directly applied towards every alternative act in a situation for selection (Conklin, 2015). Therefore, according to this theory, the ICT-related issue to the regulation of net neutrality governed by EU should be resolved by adapting both the Act-utilitarianism principle and rule-utilitarianism principle. Thus, it can be stated that the electronic communication providers to the public incorporating the providers of services, applications and content as well as the providers of internet access services should be therefore free for offering few services those are not responsible for providing internet access (Kahane et al. 2015). These are optimized for the particular services, applications, contents or a combination where the optimization is needed for meeting the demand of services, applications and content for a particular quality level. Application of Deontological Theory - The major role of this particular theory is to place special emphasis over the relationship between the morality as well as responsibility or duty of the activities governed by the human beings. Therefore, Utilitarianism aims only on the outcomes whereas Deontology deals with the motives as well as intentions. Thus, according to the norms of Deontology, it must be stated that the national regulatory authorities should perform the verification operations whether and to what extent such optimization is required for ensuring one or more key features of services, applications and content over the internet access (Solum, 2015). On the other hand, it should enable a corresponding assurance of quality to be provided to the end users. Application of Virtue TheoryThis theory governs the ethical approach that emphasizes the character of an individual as the major element of the ethical thought process rather than the regulations regarding the acts themselves or their consequences. Therefore, with the helpof this particular ethicaltheory, the virtue orthe implication of the regulation can be easily identified and emphasized more than its drawbacks (Gotsis Grimani, 2015). As per the norms of virtue theory, the discrimination blocking aswell as throttling of the internet traffic under these rules of net neutrality governed by EU by the Internet Service Providers is not permitted in the EU. On the other hand, under these rules or by following these rules, all the traffic is treated equally in the open internet (Jordan, 2013). These rules are the improvised versions of the common or the traditional rules on net neutrality. As per those common rules, the Internet access services cant pick the losers or the winners over t he internet or decide which services and contents are available. Application of Contract Theory In the ethical ground, the contract theory mainly deals with the study of the way businesses as well as individuals develop and construct the legal agreements. With the help of this particular theory, it would become easier for analyzing the way through which different parties make decisions for creating a contract with the specific terms in case uncertain conditions take place (K?szegi, 2014). This theory also helps in covering how the businesses and individuals make contracts with the asymmetric information. According to the theory, it can beseen that the net neutrality rules governed by EU can provide certainty for the providers of internet access and the application and content providers for offering specialized services with the specific quality requirements (Christensen et al., 2016). It also incorporates the essential safeguards for ensuring the fact that the open internet is not affected by the provision of the services. Therefore, it can greatl y influence the principles of economic and financial behavior of the digital single market through open internet. Conclusion This entire study has successfully performed an in-depth analysis over the first EU-wide Net Neutrality rules with the help of the four significant ethical theories such as Utilitarian, Deontological, and virtue as well as contract theory. Thus, by applying all the four theories in the net neutrality rules, it can be seen that the Utilitarian and Deontological theory have helped this study for identifying the possible ways for resolving the issues associated with the rules. On the other hand, another two theories such as the virtue theory and the contract theory assess the net neutrality rules in terms of its advantages over the open internet services, which help these rules for creating a great achievement in digital single market. As an overall recommendation of this study it can be stated that the national regulatory authorities should perform the verification operations while incorporating net neutrality regulations whether and to what extent such optimization is needed for assuring one or more key features of services, applications and content over the internet access. References Cestone, G. (2014). Venture capital meets contract theory: risky claims or formal control?.Review of Finance,18(3), 1097-1137. Christensen, H. B., Nikolaev, V. V., Wittenberg?Moerman, R. (2016).Accounting information in financial contracting: The incomplete contract theory perspective.Journal of Accounting Research,54(2), 397-435. Conklin, W. (2015).The utilitarian theory of equality before the law.Available at SSRN 2695840. Gotsis, G., Grimani, K. (2015). Virtue theory and organizational behavior: an integrative framework.Journal of Management Development,34(10), 1288-1309. Jordan, A. (2013). 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