BUSI 301 Application Activity 1 Business Ethics Analysis Assignment solutions complete answers

BUSI 301 Application Activity 1 Business Ethics Analysis Assignment solutions complete answers

 

Hey Ralph, ... I just had to refund Sally's Sundries $8,350 and spent almost an hour on the phone apologizing profusely so we wouldn't lose their business.

whoa! what was the problem?

They were furious about paying emergency fuel surplus fees for the past decade.

We sent that memo in 2008 to all our Customers explaining that we would have to temporarily increase our delivery fee by 50%. We had to increase the fees just to stay in business.

Oh right! Name, you weren't working here back then so you probably never saw the memo. Here, take a look.

So you fixed the problem! That's a huge refund but at least you kept their business.

I’m afraid it's a bigger problem than just Sally's Sundries… I looked into it and we're still charging a lot of our biggest customers the “temporary increase” rate.

Until now, none of our customers have asked about the increased delivery fee.

But 35% of our revenue comes from these customers. We can't afford to lose their business

Yikes. This is a tricky situation. Obviously we have to protect the business but it seems kind of wrong to keep overcharging?

Name, any ideas for where we can start?

 

Good point. Let's start with our legal obligations.

We don' t have go to through the whole contract. Here's the section we're talking about:

So we’re covered. Right, Name?

 

Ok, that's a relief at least. And we did give notice even if we weren't obligated to.

In the memo, we said that we would look at the rates again in a year to see whether we could reduce them. Did that happen?

The market conditions were even worse in 2009 so we couldn't reduce the rates. Then it kind of became the new normal.

Name, is breaching the contract the only thing we have to worry about?

 

Right. We still have broader responsibilities as a business.

That sounds complicated.

It is! With ethical questions in business, you can weigh different factors and consider:

 

Haha easy there, Aristotle! I know you were a philosophy major but we're talking about business ethics. We need a way to apply ethical theories to real-life situations.

OK, help me break this down… Name, what did you mean by “stakeholders”?

 

So where does our bottom line ft into this? We can't afford to lose these customers. But we also can't afford to refund thousands of dollars just to retain their business.

 

As long as we didn’t break the law, I think that the company's financial well-being should be our top priority. We need to protect our business.

 

We're a business for profit. We have to for prioritize profitability the sake of our company's long-term financial health.

l think we should maintain the status quo and keep the increased rates quiet.

“Greed is good”, right?

That is one way of looking at this dilemma. Some philosophers and economists say that businesses should solely focus on maximizing profits because:

 

That's what I’m saying!

l don't agree with Gayle's approach. Just feels wrong to me. Plus, these things have a way of getting out. What if Sally's Sundries tells our other customers? Or the press?? Then we'll be in even worse shape!

Considering the consequences of public disclosure is one way to figure out whether a decision is ethical. That test is sometimes called:

 

Exactly! We need to think about what happens to our credibility (and our profits) if this news gets out. I think we’d lose customers.

We need to proactive and get out ahead of this problem. We should send a memo to all and of our customers apologize for overcharging them. How would we feel if we were overcharged thousands of dollars?

Then what... return their money from past 10 years? How can we survive that financial hit?? Besides, under the terms of our service contract, we didn't do anything wrong!

It sounds like Ralph is in favor of:

 

Well said! I just think telling them is the right thing to do.

What a mess…

Name, what do you think our best option would be? No wrong answers here!