Deception
14 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008
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Deception
Abstract
Is it deception or simply a clever business tactic? The varieties and scope of deceptive behavior are examined in this series of caselets, which offer a wide range of sample dilemmas in many fields, including medical publishing, the auto industry, investment banking, the oil industry, and even in the fine art of writing a résumé.
Excerpt
UVA-E-0278
Rev. Aug. 27, 2012
DECEPTION
Competitive Intelligence
A new associate at a consulting firm was given a project: analyzing the market position of one of the firm's premier clients. To do this, the associate must research and analyze the capabilities of the client's competitors. Because all the firms in the client's industry were privately held, very little information on its competitors existed in the public realm. Normal policy at the associate's consulting firm was to call the competitors and, in the course of a conversation, try to get them to reveal competitive intelligence on market positioning, revenue numbers, and profitability ratios. The consulting firm's ethics policy encouraged the associate to reveal his identity and his employer.
After hours on the phone, the associate finally reached a marketing manager at one of the client's competitors. As per the firm's policy, the associate revealed his name and the name of his firm. The marketing manager willingly engaged in a conversation about his company and revealed some information that would be valuable to the client. The marketing manager had no idea that this information would be going to one of his competitors (the consulting firm's client). The associate never lied about his identity; he simply did not reveal who his client was because the marketing manager did not ask.
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Keywords: Ethical issues business ethics
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