MGT2BET Business Ethics: Case Study on Competitive Intelligence

This case study delves into an ethical dilemma faced by Michael Vasquez, a new product manager, who receives a competitive intelligence report obtained through illegal means by his boss. The report discusses the theft of confidential information from a competitor, including product plans and pricing strategies. Michael grapples with whether to use the illegally obtained data, leading to an exploration of ethical theories such as virtue ethics and deontology. The analysis evaluates the boss's unethical actions, suggests possible responses including confronting the boss or whistleblowing, and underscores the importance of ethics in business for CSR development, decision-making, value integrity, and maintaining reputation. The study concludes that ethics are crucial for organizational growth and strategic decision-making, and that a strong code of ethics can mitigate risks and address workplace issues.

Running Head: BUSINESS ETHICS 1
Business Ethics

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 1..................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 2..................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 3..................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 4..................................................................................................................................................5
Answer 5..................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Business ethics is a form of professional ethics which examines the moral and ethical principles
and issues which arise in the business environment. Ethics is defined as a set of principles which
are used to determine what is right when it is about the behavior and conduct of an individual.
Nowadays, technology is changing the way in which business operates. Data storage, gathering,
management and transmission are developing the spread and utilization of data (Hartman,
DesJardins and MacDonald, 2014). In addition to this, the modern technology is creating issues
for the business and its managers. In this report, an ethical issue faced by Michael Vasquez is
discussed. The report includes the issue that Michael‘s boss has gathered the confidential
information about its closest competitor. It was the competitive intelligence report of competitor
that makes Michael very uncomfortable about using these materials, understanding that the
information is illegally obtained. This report answers the questions related to the case study.
Main Body
Answer 1
By reading the given case study, it can be stated that Michael Vasquez is facing the situation of
competitive intelligence theft. Michael Vasquez, a new product manager for a technology firm
was given a competitive intelligence report of competitor. This information is handed him by his
boss that contains confidential and proprietary information which can give competitive
advantage to Michael’s firm. The case study shows that the data is obtained by using an illegal
tap into the servers of competitors.
In this situation, Michael is very uncomfortable and wondering that what to do with the data
given to him. It shows that it is the ethical issue of stealing the competitors’ confidential
information that includes product plans, pricing strategies and partnership agreements. In this
way, this is the ethical issue related to competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence theft is
the approach of boundary spanning and it includes obtaining the important and confidential
information of competing brands (Laube, and Böhme, 2016). It is an unethical way to grasp the
data about competitors. Moreover, this issue put Michael in a difficult situation as his boss told

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him to use these documents to the benefits of company. In this state, Michael is not able to make
the decision that what he should do with this information about the competitors.
Answer 2
In this situation, Michael can take two actions to overcome this ethical dilemma. Under the first
option, he should confront to his boss and make him understand that he is not comfortable with
how unethically the competitive intelligence is obtained and what proprietorship of them states
about the culture of company. Michael should try to clear to his boss that it will be an unethical
action done by the company of it will use competitors stolen data into own company’s benefits.
It should try to change the perception of his boss towards competitive intelligence. In addition to
the question of legitimacy of utilizing the data, he should make his boss understand that it is
public relation nightmare waiting to occur. In this option, the virtue theory of ethics can be
implemented (Chonko, 2012). Virtue theory is an important ethical theory that judges a person
by his or her character rather than by an action that may differ from his or her normal behavior.
In this case, Michael will be making a perception about his boss according to his action like he
has been engaged in corporate intelligence predicament. It takes the reputation and morals of a
person into account when rating an irregular and unusual behavior which is considered unethical.
According to this theory, Michael should judge his boss’s behavior by his action and make
efforts to change his perception by confronting him (Battaly, 2015).
Another suggested option is that Michael should talk to the legal counsel of the organization and
competitive intelligence professionals so that they can guidance over this ethical dilemma. These
bodies will guide Michael how he can manage this issue that is related to competitive
intelligence aspect. After discussing with them, they should act accordingly according to the
guidance. These bodies can give the knowledge about the imposed laws and regulations to
Michael (Neubert and Dyck, 2016). This option can be understood by implementing the
deontology theory of moral ethics. According to this theory, the individuals should comply with
their duties and obligations when engaged in decision making. Under this option, after discussing
with the legal counsel Michael should take any action. It should follow the related policies and
regulations related to competitive intelligence predicament. In this case, deontology theory will
assist Michael to make consistent decision.

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Answer 3
By analyzing the situation given in the case study, the actions of Michael’s boss can be perceived
as unethical because it is the case of theft of competitive intelligence. He has obtained the
confidential data of closest competitor from the internet servers. This information includes the
product plans, pricing strategies and partnership agreements. In this situation, when Michael
asked his boss that where he obtained the data from, his boss told him that he had gathered them
from the servers of competing brand. He said that he got into the private section on their intranet
and downloaded this private data. It indicates that Michael’s boss has stolen this information
from their intranet by having unauthorized access to their system. It clearly shows that he has
broken the passwords of company (Luu, 2014). Evaluating the information is an important part
of competitive intelligence. Getting confidential information via illegal practices is regarded to
be extremely unethical or illegal. The case clearly indicates that the deeds of Michael’s boss are
unethical because they can copy this information and practice in its operations. After some time,
when Boss realized that Michael is suspicious about his act, he has changed his statement and
said that he had got electronic access through a colleague and he had not hacked the passwords
(Murphy, 2016). Thus, it can be perceived that the behavior of Michael’s boss is unethical in
company’s business.
Answer 4
As discussed above, it is the case of competitive intelligence theft in which Michael’s boss has
obtained the proprietary and confidential information about its closest competing firm by
accessing its intranet servers. It is unethical to get the information by accessing the passwords of
other companies. First, Michael should confront his boss about the wrongful act done by him.
According to virtue theory, he should have a conversation with his boss and he should tell him
about the negative consequences of this unethical issue of competitors’ data theft. If Michael is
not able to convince his boss to change his perception then he should blow the whistle the
organization (Battaly, 2015).
Whistle blowing is the act of informing the authorities or the public that the company in which
one is working for is engaged in some illegal and immoral acts. In an organization, whistle
blowing is the practice of informing about someone or placing a stop to something wrong.
Whistleblower is the person who has and provides the insider knowledge of wrongful acts and

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activities happening in a workplace. Whistleblower is an individual that gives the information
about the misconduct of an employee to higher authorities (Henik, 2015). There are various laws
which safeguard the whistleblowers from being mistreated and fired for informing the wrongful
act.
In an organization, there may be various factors which motivate the individuals to engage in
whistle blowing activities. One of the major motivations to whistle blowing is an intrinsic sense
of integrity and justice. When looking for the justice the whistleblower seeks to hold the
wrongdoers responsible for the misconduct. Another factor that motivates whistle-blowing is
self-preservation (Turteltaub, 2014). There are some individuals in every organization who fight
for ethics. These people work as whistle-blowers and their internal values motivate them towards
whistle blowing. In addition to this, there are various whistleblower reward programs which are
conducted by company’s management and government officials that encourage the
organizational people to bring the unethical or wrongful act which they see at work to light.
There are some circumstances where whistleblowing is justified. These conditions are given
below:
 When an employee recognizes a serious challenge of harm to employees, customers,
other stakeholders and acts against his/her ethical concern.
 When there will be proper reasons to believe that revealing the unethical act to public
will change the organization are essential to overcome the situation (Singh, 2014).
 Moreover, there will be the situation of product or policy which can harm the public
considerably.
In this given case, Michael should blow the whistle and discuss boss’s wrongful act with legal
counsel and other people (Vandekerckhove, 2016).
Answer 5
Ethics plays an important role in the business as it assists the organization to make rights
decisions in right situations. On the basis of given case, it can be analyzed that ethics concerns to
the moral judgment of an individual about the right and wrong. The decisions which are made
within a firm may be taken by the individuals, but who makes them they will be affected by the
company’s culture (Trevino and Nelson, 2016). The given case study shows that Michael is not

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comfortable with the unethical act done by his boss. There are various reasons which show that
ethics are relevant to the business. Four reasons are given below:
CSR Development
One of the major reasons to develop ethics to business is that it communicates to employees that
their organization is committed to operate the business responsibly. It enables company’s
employees about ethical expectations and standards. In the given case, Michael’s boss is unable
to develop an ethical environment and he encouraged his people to use stolen data of competing
brands. Michael’s boss needs to develop an ethical culture and establish code of ethics that will
grow among employees across the firm (Teulon, 2014). The company needs to understand their
responsibility towards society and its stakeholders including competitors.
Decision Making
Ethics lays the business to make strategic decision for the organization. Ethics are relevant to the
business as they assist leaders and workers to develop ethical behavior so that they can make
effective decisions (Iphofen, 2016). These ethical decisions will be acceptable socially. In
addition to this, ethics in business enables stakeholder to contribute in decision making process.
Value Integrity
In addition to above, this is one of the most significant reasons behind business ethics relevancy.
Establishment of business ethics makes the employees and customers feel that the organization
values its integrity. It will assist the organization to develop an environment of honesty and
responsibility.
Building and Maintaining Reputation
In the absence of code of ethics, the organization may face the situation as Michael has faced. It
can lead the Michael’s organization to public relation issue and it can harm its brand reputation.
For a business, it is very important to develop right ethics so that it can maintain and enhance its
brand position among society and stakeholders (Lefkowitz, 2017).

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Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that ethics plays a significant role in the growth of
an organization. The given case study shows that company is engaged in the issue of competitive
intelligence. The utilization and obtaining of competitive intelligence is becoming very important
in every industry. It is very important for an organization to develop right ethics at right place so
that it can make strategic decisions for business. By having code of ethics, a business can avoid
the possible threats and address the issues when they arise in the workplace.

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References
Battaly, H. (2015) A pluralist theory of virtue. Current Controversies in Virtue Theory.
Routledge, 7-21.
Chonko, L. (2012) Ethical Theories, Available from
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2018].
Hartman, L.P., DesJardins, J.R. and MacDonald, C., (2014) Business ethics: Decision making for
personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Henik, E. (2015) Understanding whistle-blowing: A set-theoretic approach. Journal of Business
Research, 68(2), 442-450.
Iphofen, R., (2016) Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide. Springer.
Laube, S. and Böhme, R. (2016) The economics of mandatory security breach reporting to
authorities. Journal of Cybersecurity, 2(1), pp.29-41.
Lefkowitz, J. (2017) Ethics and values in industrial-organizational psychology. Taylor &
Francis.
Luu, T. (2014) Knowledge sharing and competitive intelligence. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning, 32(3), 269-292.
Murphy, C. (2016) competitive intelligence: Gathering, Analysing and Putting it to Work.
Routledge.
Neubert, M. J., and Dyck, B. (2016) Developing sustainable management theory: goal-setting
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Singh, A. (2011) Competitive Intelligence: What's Unethical About It? Available from
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Teulon, F. (2014) Ethics, moral philosophy and Economics. Financial Economics, pp.28-8.

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Trevino, L. K., and Nelson, K. A. (2016) Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to
do it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Turteltaub, A., (2014) Why Risk It? The Motivations of a Whistleblower, Available from
http://complianceandethics.org/risk-motivations-whistleblower/. [Accessed on 8 June 2018].
Vandekerckhove, W. (2016) Whistleblowing and organizational social responsibility: A global
assessment. Routledge.