Ethics: The Supermarket Case Analysis
The Case
Setting: New York. The story is about a supermarket chain with 12 stores all throughout NY, from the chic Manhattan to the cluttered Downtown. But as goes one of the clauses of the Darwinian Theory, the more deprived you are, more the competition, more the crime. So, understandably, the low income areas face a lot of vandalism, pilferage etc. causing a lot of overhead costs for the company. The company has a same-price policy which cannot be breached. So what does the distribution manager do? Simple! He decides to send the low quality and poorest cuts of meat to the stores in this region to maintain the profitability. Here comes the catch. Since the stores are facing losses in the region, the customer’s forced to go with less value for his well earned money. Seems like an ‘ethical dilemma’. Bingo!! It’s time for us, as Group 1, to step in.
So, we were now supposed to analyse if the economic rationale of the manager was a justification sufficient enough for his decision to sell inferior goods to some of his clients.
The Debate
We decided to look at the case Kurosawa style i.e. with diverse perspectives and thus came up with the debate format where both the sides were given an equal opportunity to put forward their case in terms of the ethical theories learnt in class and beyond.
It’s an ethical evil!!! Hey!! It’s not that big a deal!!
Logic Ethical Theory used Logic Ethical Theory used
The manager’s not only harming the customer’s interests but he’s also putting the company’s long term reputation at stake. Also, the asymmetry in information goes against the society’s norm of equal rights. Theory of Utilitarianism and John Rawl's Theory of Fair Justice The company is providing services of a superstore in the area and thus benefiting a lot of people. The quality of the product is after all only a ‘little’ inferior. Theory of Utilitarianism
It is also his duty to fulfil his customers’ requirements and provide them with similar quality of products
Setting: New York. The story is about a supermarket chain with 12 stores all throughout NY, from the chic Manhattan to the cluttered Downtown. But as goes one of the clauses of the Darwinian Theory, the more deprived you are, more the competition, more the crime. So, understandably, the low income areas face a lot of vandalism, pilferage etc. causing a lot of overhead costs for the company. The company has a same-price policy which cannot be breached. So what does the distribution manager do? Simple! He decides to send the low quality and poorest cuts of meat to the stores in this region to maintain the profitability. Here comes the catch. Since the stores are facing losses in the region, the customer’s forced to go with less value for his well earned money. Seems like an ‘ethical dilemma’. Bingo!! It’s time for us, as Group 1, to step in.
So, we were now supposed to analyse if the economic rationale of the manager was a justification sufficient enough for his decision to sell inferior goods to some of his clients.
The Debate
We decided to look at the case Kurosawa style i.e. with diverse perspectives and thus came up with the debate format where both the sides were given an equal opportunity to put forward their case in terms of the ethical theories learnt in class and beyond.
It’s an ethical evil!!! Hey!! It’s not that big a deal!!
Logic Ethical Theory used Logic Ethical Theory used
The manager’s not only harming the customer’s interests but he’s also putting the company’s long term reputation at stake. Also, the asymmetry in information goes against the society’s norm of equal rights. Theory of Utilitarianism and John Rawl's Theory of Fair Justice The company is providing services of a superstore in the area and thus benefiting a lot of people. The quality of the product is after all only a ‘little’ inferior. Theory of Utilitarianism
It is also his duty to fulfil his customers’ requirements and provide them with similar quality of products