Ethical Decision Making in Difficult Situations. Business & Marketing

Ethical Decision Making in Difficult Situations
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Ethical Decision Making in Difficult Situations
1. Describe some of the unorthodox strategies covered by Terris during this era that made Lockheed become "…a byword for the shady practices of American multi-national corporations, and a major impetus for new legislation...”
Lockheed played by the rules of the day. During the era as covered by Terris, ethics took a backseat, and Lockheed found itself in the midst of a crisis as it was finding it difficult to convince governments to order for the F-104. One unorthodox strategy that Lockheed used was to find powerful and influential middlemen who Terris describes as willing partners. These men had “access to the highest reaches of government,” and were also “able to sway decisions for a price” (55-56). With governments trying to work on their new defensive strategies, it made sense for companies like Lockheed to enhance their marketing strategies to sway key decisions in governments. By using these men, Lockheed was thus able to earn favors and increase the sale of their F-104. Some of the influential individuals Lockheed used include Prince Bernhardt in the Netherlands, Yoshio Kadama from Japan, Adnan Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia, and in Indonesia, Lockheed made contributions to the Widows and Orphans. These helped to open doors to global markets.
Aside from using middlemen with connections to powerful individuals in their country, Lockheed also used a lot of money to bribe its way into markets. As already indicated, the men Lockheed used as middlemen offered their services at a price. With a large pool of funds, Lockheed was able to influence the decisions of major governments like Japan. At the time, however, Terries writes that “bribery overseas was not even illegal under American law.” Additionally, companies doing business in foreign countries were subject to the laws of the host nations. So, Lockheed managed to bribe its way to top government officials without any repercussions. Even though Lockheed did not reach the numbers it had hoped for, Terries writes that their unorthodox business strategies helped prevent a financial disaster.
2. On the issue of overseas bribes, Terris asks the questions, "Who was hurt by the [overseas bribes to secure sales of aircraft]? The competitors, of course, but what was unethical about beating out the competition that was playing by the same rules?” (p.59).
.What do you think about a situation where underhanded and back door deals are the way the game is played if everybody is on the same playing field? That is to say, if everybody is playing by the same shady rules, is it unethical to compete?
A level playing field simply means that competitors are following the same rules and regulations. Every company or individual is given an equal chance or ability to compete. Well, if everybody is playing by the same shady rules, the playing field is indeed level. Everyone has the same chance and opportunity to succeed or fail if the rules backfire on them. For Lockheed, the playing field was quite level as all companies were doing the same thing. Bribery was widely accepted as part of doing business, so, it...