BA homework

Scenario and Questions:

You are a brand manager at a large food manufacturer. You’re positioning a new product for entry into the highly competitive “healthy” snack market. Your new healthy potato chips are low fat, low calorie, high in nutrients, and actually test better than regular chips according to the taste tests you’ve conducted. One of your new employees, who used to work for your leading competitor, has informed you that the competitor is preparing to launch a similar product. In fact, he has seen market research suggesting that the two products will be perceived as identical, so the first product to be released should gain significant market share.

Although you are ready to launch the product within the next week, a research report from a small independent lab that you hired to analyze the health and safety of your product indicates that your new chips cause moderate to severe dizziness and diarrhea in a small group of individuals. You have used this lab in the past-- it has an impressive reputation and its research has always been reliable. However, the research report from your own in-house lab does not support the other lab’s conclusion.

Your director of research assures you that any claims of adverse effects are unfounded and are either extremely rare or the result of faulty research. He urges you not to delay the product release and asks you not to disclose your concerns to others because if they get out to the public then it will destroy any chance of a successful product launch. Since your division has been losing revenue because of its emphasis on high-fat snack foods, it desperately needs a low-fat money maker. In fact, if this product launch is not successful, then there is a good chance that you and other employees will lose your jobs as part of cost cutting efforts.

Imagine you are the brand manager. Please conduct an ethical analysis of this situation using the following questions as a guide:

a) What ethical issues do you face in this scenario? (10 points) golden rule etc

1. Product is harming people

2. There is a design problem.

3. Financial issues there is cheaper to not to fix it than fix it

4. Questions of trust and reputation, concealing

b) Who are the key stakeholders and what are their stakes? (30) 10-15 stakeholders and need to say why.

1. Customer, driving the car, it is safety issue

2. Competitors, they can design something better to against you

3. Shareholders, financial issue

4. Company itself because its brand name and image

5. Government stakeholder

6. Government, protect the product

c) Evaluate this situation using multiple ethical principles/theories. (40) based on the analysts

1. First I will use the golden rule because I want to treat the way I want to be treated it.

2. Categorical comparative is I ask myself what kind of the world would be if the bad product comes out

3. Intuition ethic which is Gut feeling

4. Virtual ethic is what would my head quarter manager said about it, e.g. do not harm

5. Discloser rule is how I would feel about, pretty awful.

d) What should you do? Make a recommendation that is supported by your analysis. (20) be specific about how are you gonna do it.