Question:
Zoya Arbiser, regional manager of Gold Medal Sports Shops, is analysis the results of 15 stores in her region. Store managers are moved yearly. Each store manager's income is very dependent on the direct contribution margin of that store. For the past year, Store 9 has been managed by a person who has operated several other profitable stores in current years and is about to be promoted to a larger store. Zoya notices several items that bother her.
- Store 9 has almost no personnel training expenses relative to other stores.
- Store 9 has stopped participating in numerous community events that gave the store important visibility but did incur substantial expenses.
- Store 6, where this store manager worked the prior year, has had a severe drop in profits because of higher operating expenses.
- The advertising budget was spent almost completely in the first four months of the year, with almost nothing spent in the last several months.
Show a possible negative managerial scenario that the regional manager can be sensing. Might the manager of Store 9 be an exceptional manager? Evaluate the ethical implications of the scenario? Evaluate the regional manager's ethical responsibility in this scenario? Describe and support your position with evidence from the text.