Coca-Col Business Law
Ethics Case Study: Coca-Cola
Business Law
April 21, 2013
In the case of Coca-Cola vs. Joya Williams for conspiring to steal trade secrets and then sell them to a competitor, Joya Williams showed that she was very unethical and lacked judgment in how she handled herself. The fact that she was in deep debt and was unhappy with her job should not have meant that she needed to steal from her employer so that she could get ahead. Many people are in the same boat that she was in but choose to do the more ethical approach and use better judgment which would be to not steal and if unhappy with their job, look for another one. This case was an open and shut case in regards to the law since she and her conspirators showed …show more content…
The first fact was from one of Joya William’s conspirators that wrote Pepsi a letter stating that “What if you knew the markets Coca-Cola were going to move into and out of…and beat them to the punch.” This is a very damaging letter because of the fact that they were seeking $1.5 million for this information and they were naïve enough to put their names to it not thinking that Pepsi would use ethical judgment and go back to Coca-Cola with this letter. The second fact is that once Pepsi alerted Coca-Cola of this wrong doing, the FBI then stepped in and took videotapes of Joya Williams caught in the act of smuggling out Coke products that were still in the development stages. This in my opinion was the most damaging fact because it showed the accuser caught red handed stealing information to use for her own personal …show more content…
If Pepsi did the alternative and paid for the information to know Coca-Cola’s secrets that would have been unethical but legal. There are no laws being broken because they are not the one’s actually stealing from the company, Joya Williams and her conspirators are. While Pepsi would be covered lawfully, within the soft drink field it would be like a scarlet letter for Pepsi since everyone would then find out that Pepsi is run very unethical and lack judgment within their day to day business. The last alternative that I will talk about would be the judge since he pushed for this verdict. Had the judge not pushed the jury then this case might have been thrown out of court, Joya Williams would not have been punished, and future employees of other companies might try to sell insider secrets with no fear of punishment. Had the judge ruled this way, it would not be viewed as unethical because the jury was deadlocked but it would definitely be questioned within the legal field. Since the judge pushed for the decision and the jury came back with a guilty verdict, the judge ruled for Joya Williams to be sentenced to eight years in jail which now is the precedent set
Business Law
April 21, 2013
In the case of Coca-Cola vs. Joya Williams for conspiring to steal trade secrets and then sell them to a competitor, Joya Williams showed that she was very unethical and lacked judgment in how she handled herself. The fact that she was in deep debt and was unhappy with her job should not have meant that she needed to steal from her employer so that she could get ahead. Many people are in the same boat that she was in but choose to do the more ethical approach and use better judgment which would be to not steal and if unhappy with their job, look for another one. This case was an open and shut case in regards to the law since she and her conspirators showed …show more content…
The first fact was from one of Joya William’s conspirators that wrote Pepsi a letter stating that “What if you knew the markets Coca-Cola were going to move into and out of…and beat them to the punch.” This is a very damaging letter because of the fact that they were seeking $1.5 million for this information and they were naïve enough to put their names to it not thinking that Pepsi would use ethical judgment and go back to Coca-Cola with this letter. The second fact is that once Pepsi alerted Coca-Cola of this wrong doing, the FBI then stepped in and took videotapes of Joya Williams caught in the act of smuggling out Coke products that were still in the development stages. This in my opinion was the most damaging fact because it showed the accuser caught red handed stealing information to use for her own personal …show more content…
If Pepsi did the alternative and paid for the information to know Coca-Cola’s secrets that would have been unethical but legal. There are no laws being broken because they are not the one’s actually stealing from the company, Joya Williams and her conspirators are. While Pepsi would be covered lawfully, within the soft drink field it would be like a scarlet letter for Pepsi since everyone would then find out that Pepsi is run very unethical and lack judgment within their day to day business. The last alternative that I will talk about would be the judge since he pushed for this verdict. Had the judge not pushed the jury then this case might have been thrown out of court, Joya Williams would not have been punished, and future employees of other companies might try to sell insider secrets with no fear of punishment. Had the judge ruled this way, it would not be viewed as unethical because the jury was deadlocked but it would definitely be questioned within the legal field. Since the judge pushed for the decision and the jury came back with a guilty verdict, the judge ruled for Joya Williams to be sentenced to eight years in jail which now is the precedent set