With reference to one or more organisations that you have studied, evaluate any ethical strategies adopted by this business.

What are ethics? Ethics are the socially accepted moral principles that guide decision making, based on the collective belief of what is right and what is wrong (Paul Hoang). In business, ethics are moral values and beliefs that guide the way a business behaves. We will now take a look at different ethical strategies adopted by Innocent.Innocent are a UK based company that creates juices and smoothies from purely natural and healthy products sourced from “suppliers who ensure minimum standards for workers”. This is a useful marketing strategy for Innocent as more and more people become aware of what they are consuming, may make sales increase. Moreover, being ethical in this sense provides organisational guidelines for business integrity therefore creating a loyal customer base and attracting potential new customers. This can also help Innocent in a legal and compliance framework, if the business is operating in a "clean manner", this creates a strong brand image and business reputation. This may result in in making the business stronger against its competitors who may have had their image tarnished due to unethical behaviour. This can increase the popularity of the business and they may own a stronger and larger market share as a result. Furthermore, being an ethical business makes the employees feel good about their job. This can create a solid company teamwork and increase the quality of work, morale and productivity. In Innocent’s case, the company set up in 2004 the Innocent Foundation which aims to redistribute the 10% of profits from Innocent to a number of long-term NGO projects in developing countries. However, ethical behaviour also has its downsides. In Innocent’s case, to source from their suppliers most likely costs them a lot more than if they source from regular suppliers such as their competitors. This means that they may have to charge more than their competitors and thus may result in them losing customers not willing to pay a premium. This could lead to a loss in market share and lead to dissatisfaction for stakeholders in general. Moreover, being ethical reduces the opportunity to expand and become a global business. This is mainly due to exporting production to countries where labour is cheaper. In Innocent’s case, they have pledged to use only healthy and natural products. If the prices drastically increase, they are forced to stick to their USP or they will lose credibility. This will make costs increase therefore their profit margin will be lower.To conclude, I believe Innocent’s ethical strategy of using natural and healthy products is more beneficial to them than negative. The improved brand image and reputation gives Innocent a significant competitive advantage over their competitors. Therefore I believe that Innocent’s ethical strategy is an effective strategy to promote their product as well as the brand.