This document provides an overview of a guide to virtuous practice in marketing and business. It is presented in three parts that discuss God and one's calling, marketing through a godly lens, and godly business practices. The document defines key virtues like justice, honesty, generosity and forgiveness. It provides examples of applying these virtues to stakeholders through group exercises. The goal is to encourage practices that treat all people and groups with dignity, truthfulness, compassion and forgiveness.

1. A Guide to Virtuous Practice
Presented by:
Dr. Vahagn Asatryan
Twitter: avahagn
Facebook
E-mail:vasatryan@redeemer.ca
Marketing and Ethical business
© 2013, Dr. Vahagn Asatryan

2. Program
 Part 1 – God and my calling
 Part 2 – The God of marketing
 Part 3 – Godly business Practice

3. What is the scope of marketing?
The activity, set of institutions, and processes
for defining, creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that
have value for customers, clients, partners,
and society at large.
American Marketing Association, 2013

4. Specific Stakeholders in an Organization*
Owners: Financial Community: Activist Groups:
*
Suppliers: Government: Political Groups:
Customers: Customer Advocate Groups: Unions:
Employees: Trade Associations: Competitors:
STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS EXERCISE

5. The fable of a fox and a scorpion

6. Section III – Virtuous practice
VIRTUE
 A virtue is a trait or quality deemed to be
morally excellent and thus is valued as a
foundation of good moral character. Personal
virtues are characteristics valued as
promoting individual and collective well being.

8. Virtuous circle
GODGOD

9. Justice
 “To treat each thing, person or situation correctly
or rightly.”
 Justice means treating….
 a superior as a superior,
 an equal as an equal (equality) and
 a subordinate as a subordinate.

10. Question
 How might you encourage your
managers to practice justice?
 How might you encourage your
subordinates to act fairly, justly, and
caringly?

11. VIRTUE
Employee
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows, Orphans,
Strangers
Other
VIRTU™ Matrix
Exercise
*Note: For each of these
Matrix Exercises:
1)identify a stakeholder,
and
2)identify or imagine an
example that illustrates
the application of the
virtue toward that
stakeholder.

12. JUSTICE
Employee
Reell Engineering redesigned the assembly line based on Teach-Equip-Trust (TET) style of management in
which employees were taught inspection procedures, equipped with quality instruments and trusted to do
things right on their own assembly line. Employees decreased setup times for new products, reduced the
need for quality inspection, increased overall quality and required less supervision. By reducing these costs,
the company not only was able to set pay rates at a level closer to a living wage, but also created a richer
work experience by making employees accountable for developing their knowledge and skills. When work
is designed to use $7 of talent, it is difficult to pay people anything more than that amount. When an
employee is hired with no experience and no skills, the company pays the worker the market rate ($7 per
hour or whatever it is at the time), but then makes a commitment to move that employee to the target or
living wage ($11 per hour) through training and skill development. Responsibilities of employees here as
well. Employees are not merely recipients of justice, but they are also an integral part of the process of
creating right relationships in how they choose to pursue their work.
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group: Widows,
Orphans, Strangers
Other

13. HONESTY
 “To say, write or more broadly
communicate truth where it is relevant
that one so communicate it.”
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16

14. Questions
 How might you encourage your
stakeholders to act with honesty and
integrity (toward you and each other)?

15. HONESTY
Employee
Customer
A translation services company was contracted to translate materials for a
workshop in a foreign country. The parties agreed to the pay-per-page model.
The amount of work significantly exceeded the original agreement. The text
contained graphs, pictures, and charts - lots of "white space". The agency
charged for the equivalent of the actual "text" pages.
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows, Orphans,
Strangers
Other

16. Share your story
vasatryan@redeemer.ca

17. Generosity
Two senses:
Generosity as justice is when the strong benefits the weak (the strong
could mean the financially strong, the educationally strong, the
physically strong, etc.). And the weak would be the corresponding
person or thing).
Generosity as love is when a person (strong, equal or weak) doesn't
have any obligation to help a person (usually financially, materially or
time-wise), but still chooses to do so.
“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes will be refreshed.”
Proverbs 11:25

18. Group work
 What kind of gifts and talents has God blessed you
with? How can you share them with your
stakeholders?

19. GENEROUSITY
Employee
Jacks Landscaping, a landscape construction company based in Richmond Hill, ON provides
employees with proper compensation both in the winter and summer months. It is a rare
practice in the industry to compensate employees a set pay even during the winter months
with regard to snow removal. Employees are still paid whether it snows or not, which is very
uncommon in the industry. Not only compensation, but Jack's Landscaping provides
employee bbq's, outings, and employee support as a way to show generosity.
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows,
Orphans,
Strangers
Milton Hershey was considered to be a fool by his wealthy contemporaries. His chocolate
company brought him millions of dollars, but he used most of it to invest in a school for
homeless children (now known as the ) and other charitable causes.
Other

20. Forgiveness
Forgiveness as such is a type of sacrificial love and so goes beyond
(though always through) justice.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other,
just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32

21. Group work
 How can forgiveness be relevant to business
operations?
 What were the positive outcomes of forgiveness?
 What are the consequences of non-forgiveness (that
you may have observed or suffered in business)?

22. FORGIVENESS
Employee
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
John owned a Painting Business which was run as a partnership between himself and another man,
Jacob. They mostly painted commercial industrial buildings such as factories, new office buildings, etc.
After many years of working together, John’s business partner stopped showing up for work, ... in the
middle of working on a large contract. Jacob's continual absence made it impossible for their company to
finish the job on time and as a result, the building contractor who hired them for that job is no longer
willing to work with John’s company. Instead of starting a fight with his partner, however, John exercised
forgiveness because he truly cared for his partner. John was not able to find the partner for more than
two weeks, but was still able to forgive him and actually helped his partner deal with family troubles that
he was having at the time.
Govnt.
Special Group: Widows,
Orphans, Strangers
Other

23. Case study
 Janice is a highly educated top executive in charge of research and
development. John is her underpaid assistant, struggling to support
his family. His performance evaluations have always been more than
adequate. As one of his research projects, John designs a creative
software package that addresses major concerns within the
company. He shares this program with Janice, hoping it will bring him
a much needed promotion and raise. Janice’s boss has asked her to
design an innovative and efficient program. But pressures of her
position keep her from setting aside sufficient time to do the
requested work. Janice, eager to successfully complete the job her
boss assigned, is thinking of presenting John’s program to her boss
and passing it off as her own. If John objects, she can threaten to
lower his performance evaluations or possibly even fire him. But
Janice doesn’t pass it off as her own.

24. THE END (JUST THE BEGINNING)…