BS-ETHICS-L2

• BASIC FAIRNESS: Ethical decision-making processes


  • Protecting employee and customer rights
  • Ensuring all business operations are fair and just
  • Protecting the common good
  • Protecting workers' values and beliefs
• Gross negligence


  Failing to investigate a matter that affects their interests properly could be viewed as gross negligence supporting a breach of your ethical and legal duty of care
• Personnel and customer relations issues

  • Mistreating employees
  • Discrimination and harassment in the workplace
  • Family-run businesses
  • Employee working conditions
  • Side deals and sub-standard work
• Pricing


  Prices are set for consumers considering the cost of inputs, distribution, and overhead
• Placement


  Strategic positioning of products within retail stores
• Promotions


  Short-term price discounts or giveaways
• When a number of competitors agree to set prices at a certain level, bypassing the natural market forces of supply and demand and creating an unfair advantage over consumers, this is unethical pricing strategy
• End-caps, point-of-sale displays, and demo kiosks are all examples of positioning techniques that are inherently harmless, but which can be used in arguably unethical ways
• Coupons, holiday sales events, mail-in rebates, and giveaways all fall under the promotions category. The "bait and switch" tactic is widely considered unethical, yet many companies still practice this promotion technique
• Types of business fraud

  • Corporate fraud
  • Charity fraud
  • Internet auction fraud
  • Non-delivery of merchandise
  • Non-payment of funds
  • Re-shipping scheme
  • Overpayment scheme
• Unfair competition or distortion of competition


  A situation in which competitors compete on unequal terms because favorable or disadvantageous conditions are applied to some competitors but not others
• Anti-competitive practices


  • Exclusive dealing
  • Dumping
  • Dividing territories
  • Price fixing
  • Refusal to deal
  • Limit pricing
  • Tying
  • Resale price maintenance
• Religious/minority group doctrine


  Businesses must apply tribute to a significant normally religious part of the community in order to engage in trade with that community
• Unfair communication


  Communication used to undermine relationships or encourage social immorality is unethical communication
• Environmental degradation


  Deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water, and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife
• Contractualization or labor contractualization


  The replacement of regular workers with temporary workers who receive lower wages with no or fewer benefits. Contractualization is a form of underemployment
• Basic Fairness


  • Ethical decision-making processes should center on protecting employee and customer rights, ensuring all business operations are fair and just, protecting the common good, and protecting workers' values and beliefs
• Charity Fraud


  Using deception to get money from individuals believing they are donating to legitimate charity organizations, especially charities representing victims of natural disasters shortly after the incident
• Internet Auction Fraud


  A fraudulent transaction or exchange that occurs in the context of an online auction site
• Non-Delivery of Merchandise


  Payment is sent, but the goods and services ordered are never received
• Non-Payment of Funds


  A fraudulent transaction or exchange that occurs in the context of an online auction site
• Re-shipping Scheme


  An individual is recruited to receive merchandise at their place of residence and subsequently repackage the items for shipment, usually abroad. Unbeknownst to them, the merchandise was purchased with fraudulent credit cards, often opened in their name
• Overpayment Scheme


  An individual is sent a payment significantly higher than the amount owed
• Antitrust Law or Competition Law


  When one competitor attempts to force others out of the market or prevent others from entering the market through tactics such as predatory pricing or obtaining exclusive purchase rights to raw materials needed to make a competing product
• Trademark Infringement


  When a product maker uses a name, logo, or other identifying characteristics to deceive consumers into thinking that they are buying a competitor's product
• Misappropriation of Trade Secrets


  When one competitor uses espionage, bribery, or outright theft to obtain economically advantageous information in the possession of another
• Trade Libel


  Spreading false information about the quality or characteristics of competitor products
• Tortious Interference


  When one competitor convinces a party having a relationship with another competitor to breach a contract with, or duty to the other competitor
• Anti-competitive practices


  Prevent or reduce competition in a market
• Exclusive dealing


  A retailer or wholesaler is obliged to only purchase from the contracted supplier
• Dumping


  Foreign countries often use this as a competitive threat, selling products at prices lower than their normal value. This can lead to problems in domestic markets. It becomes difficult for these markets to compete with the pricing set by foreign markets, leading to local producers and the local economy suffering a result
• Dividing territories


  An agreement by two (2) companies to stay out of each other's way and reduce competition in the agreed-upon territories
• Price fixing


  Companies collude to set prices, effectively dismantling the free market
• Refusal to deal


  Two companies agree not to use a certain vendor
• Limit pricing


  Set by a monopolist at a level intended to discourage entry into a market
• Tying


  Products that aren't naturally related must be purchased together
• Resale price maintenance


  Resellers are not allowed to set prices independently
• Religious/minority group doctrine


  Businesses must apply tribute to a significant normally religious part of the community in order to engage in trade with that community