Reference no: EM133183206

Personal ethics

In what ways do you think your personal code of ethics might clash with the practices of some companies? How might you resolve these differences?

Exercising your ethics

The Situation

You are a businessperson in a small town, where you run one of two local pharmacies. The population and economic base are fairly stable. Each pharmacy controls about 50 percent of the market. Each is reasonably profitable, generating solid if unspectacular revenues.

The Dilemma

You have just been approached by the owner of the other pharmacy. He has indicated an interest either in buying your pharmacy or in selling his to you. He argues that neither company can substantially increase profits and complains that if one pharmacy raises its prices, customers will simply go to the other one. He tells you outright that if you sell to him, he plans to raise prices by 10 percent.

He believes that the local market will have to accept the increase for two reasons: (1) the town is too small to attract national competitors, such as Shoppers Drug Mart, and (2) local customers can't go elsewhere to shop because the nearest town with a pharmacy is 50 kilometers away.

Questions

1. What degree of competition is discussed in this situation?

2. What are the underlying ethical issues?

3. What would you do if you were faced with this situation?