Scott Patterson is a salesperson for Perfect Solutions, a chemical manufacturing firm. He sells to distributors, sometimes called wholesalers. Distributors buy in large quantities from various manufacturers and sell in smaller quantities to other businesses. Larry Ingram, the CEO of one of Scott's best distributors, called Scott into his office to discuss some concerns he has regarding their business relationship. Ingram's company has been distributing Perfect Solutions products for over 10 years. In addition, Ingram's company has been the top seller for Perfect Solutions products two of the past three years. However, Scott seems to be doing things that may affect Ingram's sales. Ingram is very upset! Scott Signs Competitor Scott recently signed up Barber Distributing to distribute and sell his company's products. Barber Distributing is a competitor of Ingram's. Ingram found out about this relationship when Scott's new client, Barber Distributing, sold to one of Ingram's customers at a price 10 percent under Ingram's normal list price to get the DIS project. Ingram had cut their prices to the bone and still did not win the bid. "Did PS give Barber special price deals?" asks Ingram. Scott says, "No." Ingram wants to know if Barber will bid for the "plant" business coming up. He wants Scott to get him their bid price. Ingram places pressure on Scott to get him the best price for the bid or lose his business. Ingram feels that his company has been very valuable to Perfect Solutions and demands that Patterson reveal the prices at which he sold products to Barber Distributors. Patterson then promises Ingram that Perfect Solutions has fixed prices that are never altered. Scott told Ingram that he and Barber pay the same price for a particular product. The Customer Is Upset! This does not satisfy Ingram and he lets Patterson know that the Dymotzue's Company, a competitor of Scott and Perfect Solutions, has quoted Ingram better prices. The price sheets are on Ingram's desk. Ingram says he will not hesitate to leave Patterson for Dymotzue if Scott does not take care of him. Scott asks Ingram what he could do to help ease Ingram's frustration. Ingram says he wants to buy about two truckloads of Bond-do-Perm that Scott promised him but has not yet delivered. While the Cat Is Away Ingram is called out of the office. While Ingram is out of his office Patterson calls his manufacturing plant and talks with Jack, the manager. Jack tells him the Bond-doPerm has some manufacturing problems and will not be available for two months. The company does not want to ship a bad product. Scott gets off the phone as Ingram walks back into his office. Patterson promises Ingram one truckload of the Bond-doPerm within a few weeks knowing it cannot be delivered at that time. Ingram says he can sell one truckload to his customers as soon as the Bond-do-Perm arrives. About this time, one of Ingram's salespeople comes into the distribution center's main office and says that Barber Distributing, Ingram's competitor, has just made an offer to sell LubeExcel to one of Ingram's customers at a price 5 percent lower than that of Ingram's price. Ingram is furious, yelling at Scott to do something about this! To help Ingram meet the price, Patterson offers a free drum of LubeExcel to Ingram. Scott is authorized to give free samples only to new customers. When Ingram leaves the office, Scott decides to look at the Dymotzue price list on Ingram's desk.
Questions
1. Describe the situation faced by both Scott Patterson and Larry Ingram.
2. What would you do if you were Scott Patterson?
3. What would you do if you were Larry Ingram?
4. What are the ethical considerations, if any, in this case?
5. What level of moral development are Patterson and Ingram operating at in this business relationship?