Capturing marketing information and marketing intelligence: ethical issues and concerns

Companies require information and intelligence about customers to understand them, formulate strategies for them, and serve them better. Companies collect this information either by themselves or by appointing marketing research agencies who collect information on behalf of the companies. Collection of information sometimes becomes a challenge because customers hesitate to share personal information with companies. Also, customers worry about the way the shared information is used by companies. Customers are concerned about the safety, security, and the privacy of information. Companies should consider the above issues during data collection from customers and also during the usage of information. The paper discusses about the sensitive issue of intrusion on privacy of customers, ethics involved, responsibilities of marketing researchers regarding sensitive information shared by customers, possible misuse of the shared information, preventive measures against misuse of research findings, and the initiatives taken by companies and authorities to protect the privacy of customers.