Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics: A Case Study of Cambridge Analytica

This document discusses the corporate social responsibility and ethics of Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm. It explores the business opportunities, decision-making process, and the work provided to Trump's campaign. It also examines the interrelation between public goodwill, license to operate, and data-driven technology companies.

MK7040 Marketing in
a Digital Age and
Corporate Social
Responsibility

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
1. What was the business opportunity for Cambridge Analytica? How did the company
capture it?...............................................................................................................................1
2. Stand in the shoes of CEO Alex Nix: What could have been done better BEFORE the
scandal in 2017 and earlier? What could have been done better AFTER the scandal broke
(early 2018)?...........................................................................................................................2
3. How do you judge the value of data for influencing decision making, in business as well as
in politics? (consider the corporate social responsibility, impact on society, ethics and
legislations).............................................................................................................................4
4. Explain the work and service Cambridge Analytica provided Trump’s campaign. Apart
from the legal side, in your perspective, was it right for Cambridge Analytica to provide this
work for Trump?.....................................................................................................................5
5. How do public goodwill/license to operate and data-driven technology companies
interrelate?..............................................................................................................................5
6. Facebook continues to face major ethical and legal challenges. What challenges Facebook
brand is facing today? And what implications these challenges and the case of Cambridge
Analytica have for the future of Facebook from your perspective?.......................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
Over the years, marketing has been playing a crucial role for building relationships with
customers. Basically, it is done to bring awareness among targeted audience about the new and
existing products and services offered by a company with the help of different media channels.
In present investigating report, is based on corporate social responsibility and ethics that are
required by a company to work with and develop when it comes to build a posititve brand
image in front of the society (Grayson and Hodges, 2017). Also, company which has been taken
into consideration is Cambridge Analytica, which is a British Political Consulting organisation
(Parental Company is SCL Group) found in the year of 2013 by Alexander Nix and
headquartered at London, United Kingdom. In starting of 2018, a major scandal took place
where this company (Cambridge Analytica) harvested information of many individuals who had
profiles on one of the famous and largest social media website/application i.e. Facebook. This
was done without their consent also, it was uti political advertising (What is Cambridge
Analytica? The firm at the centre of Facebook's data breach, 2020). Also, report will be
delivering answers to a number of questions and these are presented in the main body.
Main Body
1. What was the business opportunity for Cambridge Analytica? How did the company capture
it?
Cambridge Analytica, which is one of the crucial a British political consulting firm that
combined data mining, misappropriation of digital assets, data analysis with strategic
communication and data brokerage during the electoral processes.
Mission Statement of the Cambridge Analytica is “To offer services to businesses and
political parties who want to “change audience behaviour”.”. Including this, another mission
that came in front was “to address the vacuum in the US Republican political market" that
became apparent when Mitt Romney was vanquished in the 2012 presidential political race.
Including this, vital reason behind developing these mission statements was to go grab a good
market in all over the world (The Cambridge Analytica scandal changed the world – but it didn't
change Facebook, 2020).
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On the other hand, if it is talked about the opportunities that Cambridge Analytica is
holding at present time is that, it can examine immense measures of customer information and
join that with social science to recognize individuals who associations can focus with promoting
material. It gathers information from a wide scope of sources, including internet based life
stages, for example, Facebook, its own surveying and so on.Also, what founder has mentioned
that "The Democrats had apparently been driving the tech upheaval, and information
examination and computerized commitment were territories where Republicans had neglected
to get up to speed. This is specifically being grabbed as an opportunity by Cambridge Analytica.”
Purpose of the business opportunity: In present context, the primal purpose of
developing and seeking these opportunities was to bring awareness or to change the public’s
behaviour towards different featured politics played by various parties (Mostly their clients) of
United Kingdom and so on. But this particular purpose led company to breach various law suits
because, more than 50 million Facebook profiles were specifically harvested by this
organisation (Cui, Jo and Na, 2018).
Ethics vs Profits: If it is talked about the ethics then what Cambridge Analytica did was
specifically wrong because pulling out information without taking prior authorisation from the
account holders (Public of United Kingdom) or without their consent was considered to be an
act of breaching different rules and regulations in relation to data protection like Data
Protection Act 1998. Also, the reason behind this was to earn profit, which led Cambridge
Analytica to go through different range of problems and affected not only it’s brand image but
of Facebook as well as it was also involved in the same.
Brand awareness/ Market leaders: There were ample number of decisions made by
Cambridge Analytica’s owner in order to grab the attention of potential clients from all over the
world through data mining and other techniques, where The promise of big data analytics is its
ability to find latent patterns in gigantic data stores and this led Cambridge to go through
various issues but it also raised opportunities as well to build up the brand awareness. Basically,
market leader of Cambridge Analytica i.e. Alex Nix utilised information from different social
media channels like Facebook, in contrast to governments, have become custodians of troves
of data by persuading customers in the last couple of decades (Glavas, 2016).
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2. Stand in the shoes of CEO Alex Nix: What could have been done better BEFORE the scandal in
2017 and earlier? What could have been done better AFTER the scandal broke (early 2018)?
If it is talked about Alex Nix, who is the founder of Cambridge Analytica then before
when the scandal took place in the year of 2017, it was important for him to take into
consideration of offering potential targeted audience with consent form and deliver the
information of how and where the personal information is going to be utilised. With the help of
this, it is may be possible that chances of breaching of different rules and regulations in relation
to data protection. On the other hand, another possible action which was taken into
consideration by him was to conduct different Corporate Social Responsibility related activities
in order to build a much more positive and effective brand image in front of the society
(Jackson and Ahuja, (2016).
Corporate Social Responsibility: It alludes to the requirement for organizations to be
acceptable corporate residents. CSR includes going past the law's necessities in securing the
earth and adding to social government assistance. It is generally acknowledged as a
commitment of current business. Also, it has been analysed that CSR goes past winning cash for
investors. It's worried about securing the interests everything being equal, for example,
representatives, clients, providers, and the networks wherein organizations work. Instances of
CSR incorporate receiving accommodating worker works on, thinking about the earth, and
taking part in charitable undertakings. Considering the case of Cambridge Analytica, which
utilised the information of millions of Facebook users, it would not affect much to the
company’s reputation.
Why is CSR implemented: Reason of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility is to
build trust among public and society of the different services offered by business organisations
and to deliver them information that there is no unethical activity has been considered. In
relation to the case, which has been considered of Cambridge Analytica it was required to
develop different strategies along with the activities as well CSR.
CSR Strategies that could have been used and for what purpose: In present context, it
can be said that CSR strategy, which would be utilised by Cambridge Analytica is Supporting
Volunteer Efforts. As it will directly help Cambridge Analytica in reaching to all new level of
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building trust among society. Basically, it will help company in noble cause consistently need
assistance. Savvy business pioneers realize that being engaged with the network in a gainful
manner is useful for the organization as well. Offer representatives the chance to enable a
nearby school to plant trees or work with the city board on tending to vagrancy in the zone.
Business pioneers have the chance to pick where to spend volunteer endeavors to best
assistance the neighborhood with the organization (Wei and et. al., 2017). The significant thing
for organizations is to pick a reason and contribute time. With the help of this, it can easily be
said that company will effectively develop trust and brand awareness among public and gain
the lost reputation in much effective and in efficient manner.
3. How do you judge the value of data for influencing decision making, in business as well as in
politics? (consider the corporate social responsibility, impact on society, ethics and legislations)
Data plays an essential role for every company as it aware them about the detailed
information about their customers or other related one. It has also been seen that usage of
data simply helps company in taking rightful decision that ultimately contributes in attaining
success no matter they belongs to which industry (Oh, Chang and Cheng, 2016).
The meaning of CSR, and Social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is determined as the effective practices that are
incorporated by businesses with the motive of contributing their proportion in the societal
development as well as making their positive image across the world. With reference to
Cambridge Analytica, it can be said that the respective company belongs to political background
which simply means that they are required to include corporate social responsibility activities at
workplace in order to develop their positive image among the customers. Also, it is highly
important for the leaders of this company to focus on gathering overall required data from the
authenticate sources only in order to execute their work in ethical manner. Consent from
included people whose information has been included will directly provide them support in
taking rightful decisions towards their work.
Decisions
As the respected company named as Cambridge Analytica deals in political field it can be
said this company has making many decision at regular with the motive of developing their
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positive image among public and society. Here, it can be said that before making decisions
towards the same these people are required to follow or adhere with the all legislations and
norms while gathering the required information in the appropriate manner. In addition to this,
it also important for the political based companies like Cambridge Analytica to keep their
Ethical values prior rather than the profits which have earned by them with the data from the
available sources (Del Giudice and et. al., 2018).
On the basis from overall information developed from the case scenario of Cambridge
Analytica, it can be said that the obtained data might not be accurate as it was gathered from
one of the popular social media websites/ Application Company that is Facebook. However,
there are probable chances that Facebook user might have represented fake information on
this social platform that will directly place negative information over the decision making of the
Cambridge Analytica made from this information. This simply shows that the provided data was
not accurate. In addition to this, it has also be analysed that overall responsibility of decision
making performed by the Cambridge Analytica was of this company company only as they have
taken all the gathered information at their own risk and none of Facebook user have assured
that specified information was true.
4. Explain the work and service Cambridge Analytica provided Trump’s campaign. Apart from
the legal side, in your perspective, was it right for Cambridge Analytica to provide this work for
Trump?
The information investigation firm that worked with Donald Trump's political race group
and the triumphant Brexit crusade gathered a large number of Facebook profiles of US voters,
in one of the tech monster's greatest ever information breaks, and utilized them to
manufacture an amazing programming system to foresee and impact decisions at the voting
booth. An informant has uncovered to the Observer how Cambridge Analytica – an organization
possessed by the support investments very rich person Robert Mercer, and headed at the time
by Trump's key consultant Steve Bannon – utilized individual data taken without authorisation
in mid 2014 to assemble a framework that could profile singular US voters, so as to target them
with customized political promotions (Rao and Tilt, 2016).
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An ethical view: Basically, what Cambridge Analytica did was not that much effective in
nature and it was pretty much clear that delivering information to Trump’s party was ethically
not appropriate and this is why, it was needed by Cambridge Analytica to deliver the
information to all the account holders that their personal information will be utilised for
political purpose. Along with this, if the same was done by the company then it is may be
possible that the lost brand image would not take place and also, it wouldn’t affect Cambridge
Analytica’s performance level over the years.
Code of Ethics – A code of morals is a guide of standards intended to assist experts with
leading business sincerely and with uprightness. A code of morals report may diagram the
crucial estimations of the business or association, how experts should move toward issues, the
moral standards dependent on the association's basic beliefs, and the norms to which the
expert is held.cA person approach to ethics, factors that influence ethics. Basically, it was
needed by Alex Nix to consider all the ethical approaches before reaching to any sort of
decisions of delivering the report to Donald Trump at the time of conduction of the party’s
campaign.
5. How do public goodwill/license to operate and data-driven technology companies
interrelate?
Data driven technology companies refers to those one who contains confidential data of
the users. One of the common data driven technology oriented company is Facebook which has
larger base of the customers/user who shares their information with this medium by simply
trusting them allot (De Roeck and Maon, 2018). With reference to the present scenario, it has
analysed that Facebook has breached the trust of its users by sharing their core information
with the political company named as Cambridge Analytica. This simply depicts that this incident
has developed negative image of the company in front of its user as they started losing their
trust over it. Moreover, it has been analysed that businesses dealing in this sector are required
to focus on considering two main elements that is transparency and social responsibility. Both
of them are explained below one after another.
Transparency
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Furthermore, it can be said that it is highly important for the business organisation
dealing data driven technology in order to maintain transparency with its customers so that
they can sustain for the longer time within the same sector. In addition to this, proper support
of the users will also help this company in executing their work within the industry for longer
period of time and attain success in appropriate manner. Here, it is highly important for the
companies like Facebook to maintain transparency with its users in order to inform them about
the measures taken towards maintaining security of the users confidential data on this site.
Social responsibility
It is considered as the social responsibility of Facebook to remain loyal with these users
so that they can trust the same company for longer period of time. In order to develop its
positive image among the customer, the company must take several initiatives towards the
development of society so that lack areas due to which society is falling backward can be
improved in appropriate manner.
6. Facebook continues to face major ethical and legal challenges. What challenges Facebook
brand is facing today? And what implications these challenges and the case of Cambridge
Analytica have for the future of Facebook from your perspective?
Facebook, which is one of the crucial social media tool that was initiated by Mark
Zuckerberg did not went through any sort of issue previously in relation to data leaking or any
other challenge in relation to the same. Therefore, it can clearly be said that company was
conducting all the activities in ethical manner. Also, it has been analysed that there were many
cases came in front like March 2018: The United Nations cites Facebook's role in the slaughter
of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, March 2018: Cambridge Analytica story makes highlights in
different newspapers (Park, Kim and Kwon, 2017).
Also, in the same year in month of April, Zuckerberg testifies before Congress and so on
are considered to be some of the issues that takes place. On the other hand, as of now there
was no ethical issue that came in front of Facebook in 2020, but, it is pretty much needed by
this organisation to focus over different range of activities so that previous challenges in
relation to ethics which was faced by company. This could effectively be done through
conducting CSR activities and so on. It has been analysed that, cyber security agencies
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specifically looks among any sort of law breaching activity took place. This would help
parliament in taking right decision in specified time frame, where it could also cancel the
liscence of performing business operations in today’s business market. Thus, analysts state,
general society may have minimal more knowledge into disinformation crusades on the
informal community heading into the 2020 presidential political decision than they had in 2016.
Seven philanthropic gatherings that have helped fund the exploration endeavors, including the
Knight Foundation and the Charles Koch Foundation, have even taken steps to end their
contribution.
Conclusion
With the help of above mentioned report, it is being concluded that marketing should
be done considering different ethics. Also, it is much needed by an organisation to keep on
conducting different CSR activities as this may help them in sustaining within the market for a
longer period of time through developing an effective and positive image infront of the
customer base and soceity. Away with this, it is also summarised that for a business company
when it comes to manage it’s brand inage then this could effectively be done through
developing marketing communication strategy which may also support all the ethics, rules and
regulations linked with the society.
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References
Books and Journals
Grayson, D., & Hodges, A. (2017). Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate
social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Cui, J., Jo, H., & Na, H. (2018). Does corporate social responsibility affect information
asymmetry?. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(3), 549-572.
Glavas, A. (2016). Corporate social responsibility and organizational psychology: An integrative
review. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 144.
Jackson, G., & Ahuja, V. (2016). Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing mix.
Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 170-186.
Wei, Z. & et. al., (2017). How does environmental corporate social responsibility matter in a
dysfunctional institutional environment? Evidence from China. Journal of Business
Ethics, 140(2), 209-223.
Oh, W. Y., Chang, Y. K., & Cheng, Z. (2016). When CEO career horizon problems matter for
corporate social responsibility: The moderating roles of industry-level discretion and
blockholder ownership. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(2), 279-291.
Del Giudice, T. & et. al., (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility certifications influence
consumer preferences and seafood market price. Journal of cleaner production, 178,
526-533.
Rao, K., & Tilt, C. (2016). Board composition and corporate social responsibility: The role of
diversity, gender, strategy and decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(2), 327-
347.
De Roeck, K., & Maon, F. (2018). Building the theoretical puzzle of employees’ reactions to
corporate social responsibility: An integrative conceptual framework and research
agenda. Journal of Business Ethics, 149(3), 609-625.
Park, E., Kim, K. J., & Kwon, S. J. (2017). Corporate social responsibility as a determinant of
consumer loyalty: An examination of ethical standard, satisfaction, and trust. Journal of
Business Research, 76, 8-13.
Online
What is Cambridge Analytica? The firm at the centre of Facebook's data breach. (2020).
[Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/what-is-cambridge-analytica-
firm-at-centre-of-facebook-data-breach>.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal changed the world – but it didn't change Facebook. (2020).
[Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/17/the-cambridge-analytica-
scandal-changed-the-world-but-it-didnt-change-facebook>.
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