An ethics crisis and corporate failure in food and beverage companies. evidence from Zimbabwe
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Lack of adherence to ethics and principles appears to have been one of the main causes of corporate financial distress around the world. A lot of unethical practices have contributed to revenue leakages and reluctance by investors to buy a stake in the industry. The prevalence of unethical practices, illegal behavior, illicit and deceptive practices in food and beverage companies is an unsolved issue. The aim of the research was to find out the effect of ethical problems on company’s financial performance in food and beverage industry. The high failure rate of brands in the food and beverage companies has given the researcher interest to investigate the impact of ethics on financial performance of a company. Due to the diverse nature of food and beverage industry, an action research inquiry of 20 interviews and 100 questionnaires was conducted. A mixed method convergent approach was used to analyse collected data using questionnaires and interviews. Findings from the study that there is strong positive relationship between ethical conduct of employees, managers, business conduct and the financial performance of food manufacturing company. The study results show that ethical branding significantly enhances the firm's reputation; and good reputation reinforces the brand in turn. Ethical branding can provide the company with a differential advantage as a growing number of consumers become more ethically conscious. It is therefore recommended that, ethical issues should be considered in all company departments and embedded into total quality management processes of an organization as it affect potential investors and customers.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1. Proposal of Policy for Free Access Periodics
Authors whom publish in this magazine should agree to the following terms:
a. Authors should keep the copyrights and grant to the magazine the right of the first publication, with the work simultaneously permitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 that allows the sharing of the work with recognition of the authorship of the work and initial publication in this magazine.
b. Authors should have authorization for assuming additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this magazine (e.g.: to publish in an institutional repository or as book chapter), with recognition of authorship and initial publication in this magazine.
c. Authors should have permission and should be stimulated to publish and to distribute its work online (e.g.: in institutional repositories or its personal page) to any point before or during the publishing process, since this can generate productive alterations, as well as increasing the impact and the citation of the published work (See The Effect of Free Access).
Proposal of Policy for Periodic that offer Postponed Free Access
Authors whom publish in this magazine should agree to the following terms:
a. Authors should keep the copyrights and grant to the magazine the right of the first publication, with the work simultaneously permitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 [SPECIFY TIME HERE] after the publication, allowing the sharing of the work with recognition of the authorship of the work and initial publication in this magazine.
b. Authors should have authorization for assuming additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this magazine (e.g.: to publish in institutional repository or as book chapter), with recognition of authorship and initial publication in this magazine.
c. Authors should have permission and should be stimulated to publish and to distribute its work online (e.g.: in institutional repositories or its personal page) to any point before or during the publishing process, since this can generate productive alterations, as well as increasing the impact and the citation of the published work (See The Effect of Free Access).
d. They allow some kind of open dissemination. Authors can disseminate their articles in open access, but with specific conditions imposed by the editor that are related to:
Version of the article that can be deposited in the repository:
Pre-print: before being reviewed by pairs.
Post-print: once reviewed by pairs, which can be:
The version of the author that has been accepted for publication.
The editor's version, that is, the article published in the magazine.
At which point the article can be made accessible in an open manner: before it is published in the magazine, immediately afterwards or if a period of seizure is required, which can range from six months to several years.
Where to leave open: on the author's personal web page, only departmental websites, the repository of the institution, the file of the research funding agency, among others.
References
Abdul-Rahman, H., Wang C., & Saimon, M. A. (2011). Client’s perspectives of professional ethics for civil engineers. Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 53(2), 2-6.
Akamp, M., & Müller, M. (2013).Supplier management in developing countries. Journal of Cleaner Production 56:54-62
Al-sweity, A. Y. (2013). Unethical conduct among professionals in construction industry. Master’s Degree Thesis, The Islamic University of Gaza
Andersen, M., & Skjoett-Larsen, T. (2009). Corporate social responsibility in global supply chains. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 14(2), 75–86.
Arain, F. M. (2008). Causes of Insolvency and unethical practices of contractors in Pakistan Construction Industry. Thesis, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, United Kingdom
Ayodele, E. O., Ogunbode, A. B., Ariyo, I. E., & Alabi, O. M. (2011). Corruption in the construction industry of Nigeria: Causes and solutions. Journal of Engineering Trends in Economics and Management Sciences, 2(2), 156 -159.
Belle, N., & Cantarelli, P. (2017). What causes unethical behavior? A meta-analysis to set an agenda for public administration research. Public Administration Review, 77(3), 327–339.
Brinkmann, J., & Peattie, K. (2008). Consumer Ethics Research: Refraining the Debate about Consumption for Good. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies (13), 22–30.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, Oxford. UK.
Cameron, R., & Molina‐Azorin, J. F. (2011). The acceptance of mixed methods in business and management research, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 19(3), 256-271.
Carrington, M., Neville, B., & Whitwell, G. (2010). Why Ethical Consumers Don’t Walk Their Talk: Towards a Framework for Understanding the GAP between the Ethical Purchase Intentions and Actual Buying Behaviour of Ethical Minded Consumer. Journal of Business Ethics, (97), 139 - 158.
Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Whitwell, G. J. (2010). Why Ethical Consumers Don’t Walk Their Talk: Towards a Framework for Understanding the Gap Between the Ethical Purchase Intentions and Actual Buying Behaviour of Ethically Minded Consumers. Journal of Business Ethics. (97), 139–158
Cohen, J., Ding, Y., Lesage, C., & Stolowy, H. (2010). Corporate Fraud and Managers Behaviour: Evidence from the Press.Journal of Busines Ethic. 95, 271-315
Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd (2018) Annual Report. https://www.dairibord.com/wp content/uploads/2020/09/DIARIBORD-ANNUAL-REPORT-2018-FINAL.pdf
El-Tawy, N., & Tollington, T. (2008) The Recognition of Measurement of Brand Assets: An Exploration of the Accounting/Marketing Interface, 24(7-8)711-731.
Fan, Y. (2005). Ethical branding and corporate reputation, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 10(4), 341-350.
Hershfield, H. E., Cohen, T. R., & Thompson, L. (2012). Short horizons and tempting situations: Lack of continuity to our future selves leads to unethical decision making and behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 117(2), 298–310.
Kang, J. A. (2010). Ethical conflict and job satisfaction of public relations practitioners. Public Relations Review, 36(2), 152-156.
Keller, K. L. (2009). Challenges to Branding: Five Secrets to Brand Success, Market Leader, Quarter 2, 45-47.
Lee, J., & Jin, C. (2019). The Role of Ethical Marketing Issues in Consumer-Brand Relationship. Sustainability. MDPI. 1-21.
Madhani, P. M. (2015b). Ethical behavior in sales organizations: Key dimensions, World at Work Journal, 24(1), 55-69.
Madhani, P. M. (2016) Marketing Ethics: Enhancing Firm Valuation and Building Competitive Advantages . SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 13(3), 80-99.Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2850273
Manrai, A. L., & Manrai, K. A. (2007). A field study of customers’ switching behavior for bank services. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 14, 208–215.
Maseko, C. M. (2017). Literature on theory and practice on unethical practices in the construction of projects: A case of an emerging economy. Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets & Institutions, 7(4-2), 214-224. http://doi.org/10.22495/rgc7i4c2art4
Mogaji, E., & Danbury, A. (2017). Making the brand appealing: advertising strategies and consumers’ attitude towards UK retail bank brands, Journal of Product & Brand Management, 26(6), 531-544.
Nkundabanyanga, S. K., Mpamizo, B., Omagor, C., & Ntayi, J. M. (2011). The love of money, pressure to perform and unethical marketing behavior in the cosmetic industry in Uganda. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 3(4), 40-49.
Rezaee, Z. (2009). Corporate Governance and Ethics. New York, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
The Service Industries Journal, 29(7), 887-902
Toivonen, M., & Tuominen, T. (2009). Emergence of innovations in services. Service Industries Journal 29(7), 887-902. DOI:10.1080/02642060902749492
Tsegba, I. N., Uppa, J. U., & Tyoakosu, S. A. (2015). Determinants of unethical financial reporting: A study of the views of professional and academic Accountants in Nigeria. International Business Research, 8(6), 29-44. https://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v8n6p29
Wanyama F. O. (2014). Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: a contribution to the post-2015 development debate. Geneva (Switzerland): ILO.
Wartick, S. L. (2002). Measuring Corporate Reputation Definition and Data. Business & Society 41(4), 371-392
Wood, L. (2000). Brands and brand equity: definition and management, Management Decision, 38(9), 662-669.
Yeslam, A., Burmeister, O., & Weckert, J. (2015). Reasons behind unethical behaviour in the Australian ICT workplace: An empirical investigation. Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society, 13(3/4), 235-255.