Deck 17: Social and Regulatory Issues: Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Prop

Question 1

Explain why managers should be concerned about the trust customers have in their brand or company and what they can do to build trust.

Answer 1

Marketers base their activities on the customer and customer's life. They identify who their customers are; what customers deeply value; and how the business can deliver a positive experience to the customer. The marketers also do everything to be consistent, differentiated, and valuable to the customer and the market. There is a close relationship between what the marketers do and the customer needs and characteristics. Trust is the heart of customer relationship, which begins from mere messaging to long term loyalty.
Trust of the customer can be gained only by performing in a trustworthy and reliable manner. Hence, marketers are constantly under pressure to do everything for the customers that enhances the relationship between them. Building trust is about keeping promises, responding promptly, being real and congruent. Customer life time value, something that every marketer consider as important, depends on the trust a company builds in the customer.

Question 2

Do you think consumers often take actions on the Internet that reflect lack of trust in websites or marketing practices there? What might some of those actions be?

Answer 2

Many survey reports are available that provide information on what do the dissatisfied customers with a brand do. It has been found that dissatisfied customers bring damage to the brand, by sharing their experience with their friends and colleagues. The online websites such as facebook, trip advisor, twitter, etc. are filled with product reviews and sharing of experiences by the customers. Some of the disgruntled customers publish their experience in the social media, write blogs and reviews, and share the pictures and videos of the faulty service that goes viral.

Question 3

Discuss concerns that consumers may have about the privacy of their PII. What do you think a business can and should do to alleviate these concerns?

Answer 3

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is a set of information that can be used to identify an individual. For example, date of birth, age, city of residence, email address, etc. can help to identify who an individual is. Access to personal information by the illegitimate agents is a privacy concern to many internet users.
Genuine and legitimate companies do their best to protect the privacy of their customers. First, they try to educate their customers about the privacy risks, and how to minimize them. Many sites provide information and facility to control the internet settings. For example, social networking sites allow to control the activity with a section called 'privacy settings'.
In the organizations' premises, many companies have a physical locker where the sensitive information is kept under lock. Electronic locks such as password protection, access protection, etc. are applied to control the flow of personal information. The companies are also letting the customers know about the efforts they take to protect their data.

Question 4

The chapter highlights online tracking for behavioral advertising as a particular concern of many Internet users. Has anything you have learned in this course made you more wary of what sites you visit and what information you divulge on the Internet?

Question 5

What are some of the special privacy issues faced by users of social networks?

Question 6

Why do you think that security seems to be a greater concern than privacy for users of mobile devices?

Question 7

What actions would you recommend to Internet users to protect the privacy of their PII?

Question 8

What are the Fair Information Practices Principles, and why are they important?

Question 9

Have you or anyone you know ever been informed that they had been affected by a data breach? If so, what actions were recommended for their protection? More generally, what actions should consumers take if they fear some of their data may have been compromised?

Question 10

Have you experienced any of the other security threats discussed in the chapter? What was the result?

Question 11

How has the Internet increased both the importance and the difficulty of protecting intellectual property?

Question 12

What do you perceive to be the attitudes of your peers to sharing of intellectual property on the web?

Question 13

Do you think that Creative Commons licenses offer value in the protection of intellectual property on the Internet?

Question 14

Examine the complex issue of providing personal information in return for content or services and try to precisely define your own position on the issue.