Olivia is the database manager at Tip Top Toys, a relatively small division of W

Question

Olivia is the database manager at Tip Top Toys, a relatively small division of Worldwide Enterprises. Worldwide has nine other divisions, which include insurance, health care products,and financial planning services, to name a few. Riccardo, corporate marketing director for Worldwide, has requested Tip Top’s customer shopping data to target people who might be likely to purchase items or services from other Worldwide divisions. Olivia is not totally comfortable with this, and pointed out Tip Top’s Web privacy policy, which states that “Tip Top Toys, a division of Worldwide Enterprises, will not share personal data with other companies without a customer’s consent.” Riccardo replied that the statement only applies to outside companies – not other Worldwide divisions. He said he checked with the corporate legal department, and they agreed. Emily responded “Even if it is legally OK, it’s not the right thing to do. Many people take our statement to mean that their data does not leave Tip Top. At the very least, we should give customers a choice, and share the data only with their consent.” Do you agree with Olivia? Why or why not?

Explanation / Answer

The thing which Olivia said is ethically correct. If it is mentioned that the data would not be shared, then the word must be kept. A customer getting emails or calls and unaware that it is just another division of Worldwide enterprises might feel cheated about his data getting leaked. This might lead to loss of trust of the customer and could potentially lose a customer. Always remember, retaining a customer is cheaper than getting a new customer. So, its better to discuss with the director the need to use the data. Any direct target methods can raise questions on the corporate-customer relationship and trust.

On the otherhand, some data can be used for analytics purpose since it is legal. Data like what customer is interested in which division and what types of products does he prefer. A combination of sectors or products interested in can be analysed for a customer and be used to target similar type of customers. This will surely increase the sales and boost the marketting campaign without any significant damage by directly using the data.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse O
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.