Discussion Post 6 Complete the Assurance of Learning Exercise of your text; “Ethics of Spying on Competitors.” When complete, select the one ethical choice/example (from the list) that you struggled with in terms of determining whether it is ethical or not. Write a short narrative stating which scenario was the most difficult to decide, how you made you final decision. 1. Buying competitors’ garbage: ​U, I 2. Dissecting competitors’ products: E, L 3. taking competitors’ plant tours anonymously: E, L 4. counting tractor-trailer trucks leaving competitors’ loading bays: E, L 5. Studying aerial photographs of competitors’ facilities: E, L 6. analyzing competitors’ labor contracts: E, L 7. analyzing competitors’ help-wanted ads: E, L 8. Quizzing customers and buyers about the sales of competitors’ products: E, L 9. infiltrating customers’ and competitors’ business operations: U, I 10. Quizzing suppliers about competitors’ level of manufacturing: E, L 11. Using customers to buy out phony bids: U, I 12. encouraging key customers to reveal competitive information: E, L 13. Quizzing competitors’ former employees: U, L 14. interviewing consultants who may have worked with competitors: E, L 15. Hiring key managers away from competitors: U, L 16. conducting phony job interviews to get competitors’ employees to reveal information: U, I 17. Sending engineers to trade meetings to quiz competitors’ technical employees: E, L 18. Quizzing potential employees who worked for or with competitors: E, L Going through all the scenario’s I would have to say that number 15, hiring key managers away from competitors, was the most difficult ethical decision. When thinking about this scenario, there are many different possibilities that come to mind, which muddy the waters. In my mind it would depend on how you go about doing it, by directly approaching the managers, or by posting opportunities with better incentive that draw managers away. If as an organization, you can offer a more lucrative position which happens to draw away managers, I don’t see this as unethical. If you directly approach a key manager with the intention of undermining the competition, I would view this as unethical. Ultimately, the intent behind the action is what determines the whether the action is ethical or not. Also, another confounding factor in this scenario is the fact that most key managers will sign non-competes as part of their contracts. I do not imagine too many top managers can be stolen away by competitors, due to the legal implications of breaking a non-compete. For this scenario, I ultimately decided that this was unethical, because the intent is likely to undermine the competition. Strategic Management Module 6 - Discussion  Complete the Assurance of Learning Exercise of your text; “Ethics of Spying on Competitors.”  When complete, select the one ethical choice/example (from the list) that ...

1. Discussion Post 6
Complete the Assurance of Learning Exercise of your text;
“Ethics of Spying on Competitors.”
When complete, select the one ethical choice/example (from
the list) that you struggled with in terms
of determining whether it is ethical or not. Write a short
narrative stating which scenario was the most
difficult to decide, how you made you final decision.
1. Buying competitors’ garbage: U, I
2. Dissecting competitors’ products: E, L
3. taking competitors’ plant tours anonymously: E, L
4. counting tractor-trailer trucks leaving competitors’ loading
bays: E, L
5. Studying aerial photographs of competitors’ facilities: E, L
6. analyzing competitors’ labor contracts: E, L
7. analyzing competitors’ help-wanted ads: E, L
8. Quizzing customers and buyers about the sales of
competitors’ products: E, L
9. infiltrating customers’ and competitors’ business operations:
U, I

2. 10. Quizzing suppliers about competitors’ level of
manufacturing: E, L
11. Using customers to buy out phony bids: U, I
12. encouraging key customers to reveal competitive
information: E, L
13. Quizzing competitors’ former employees: U, L
14. interviewing consultants who may have worked with
competitors: E, L
15. Hiring key managers away from competitors: U, L
16. conducting phony job interviews to get competitors’
employees to reveal information: U, I
17. Sending engineers to trade meetings to quiz competitors’
technical employees: E, L
18. Quizzing potential employees who worked for or with
competitors: E, L
Going through all the scenario’s I would have to say that
number 15, hiring key managers away
from competitors, was the most difficult ethical decision. When
thinking about this scenario, there are
many different possibilities that come to mind, which muddy the
waters. In my mind it would depend
on how you go about doing it, by directly approaching the
managers, or by posting opportunities with
better incentive that draw managers away. If as an
organization, you can offer a more lucrative position

3. which happens to draw away managers, I don’t see this as
unethical. If you directly approach a key
manager with the intention of undermining the competition, I
would view this as unethical. Ultimately,
the intent behind the action is what determines the whether the
action is ethical or not.
Also, another confounding factor in this scenario is the fact that
most key managers will sign
non-competes as part of their contracts. I do not imagine too
many top managers can be stolen away by
competitors, due to the legal implications of breaking a non-
compete. For this scenario, I ultimately
decided that this was unethical, because the intent is likely to
undermine the competition.
Strategic Management Module 6 - Discussion
Complete the Assurance of Learning Exercise of your text;
“Ethics of Spying on Competitors.”
When complete, select the one ethical choice/example (from the
list) that you struggled with in
terms of determining whether it is ethical or not. Write a short
narrative stating which scenario was
the most difficult to decide, how you made you final decision.

4. 1. Buying competitors’ garbage – U/L
2. Dissecting competitors’ products – E/L
3. taking competitors’ plant tours anonymously – E/L
4. counting tractor-trailer trucks leaving competitors’ loading
bays – E/L
5. Studying aerial photographs of competitors’ facilities – U/L
6. analyzing competitors’ labor contracts – E/L
7. analyzing competitors’ help-wanted ads – E/L
8. Quizzing customers and buyers about the sales of
competitors’ products – E/L
9. infiltrating customers’ and competitors’ business operations
U/L
10. Quizzing suppliers about competitors’ level of
manufacturing – E/L
11. Using customers to buy out phony bids – U/I
12. encouraging key customers to reveal competitive
information – U/L
13. Quizzing competitors’ former employees – E/L
14. interviewing consultants who may have worked with
competitors – E/L
15. Hiring key managers away from competitors – E/L

5. 16. conducting phony job interviews to get competitors’
employees to reveal information – U/I
17. Sending engineers to trade meetings to quiz competitors’
technical employees – E/L
18. Quizzing potential employees who worked for or with
competitors – E/L
I struggled with number three – taking competitor’s pant tours
anonymously. This type of behavior appears
untrustworthy and based on one of the Seven Principles of
Admirable Business Ethics, businesses should
follow the motto, “do unto others as you would have them do
unto you,” (David and David, 2017).
Businesses should remain abreast of competitors’ progress;
however, the knowledge should be researched
and presented within the scope of ethics. I choose this act as
ethical because the competitor may not have
requested information such as name and company information
for tours. However, the organization should
have been transparent with its competitor before initiating the
tour.
#11 & 16

6. Infiltrating customers’ and competitors’ business operations.
The action that led to the infiltration must be explored
before declaring the act illegal. Illegal activities are defined in
law and punishable.
David, F. R. & David, F. R. (2017). Strategic management: A
competitive advantage approach (16th ed.). Florence,
South Carolina. Pearson