Mktg Research

Questions

1. Briefly describe the moral dilemma that Beth Simmons is facing.

Answer: Beth is facing a business ethics problem, she is being forced to choose between following: her boss’s order to continue increasing the company’s numbers or to put her morals on the line and have the obesity and blood sugar side effects investigated. However, If Beth does not sell/push Depolara Billing’s could view this as insubordination and may find that her services are no longer required.

2. Does the code of ethics at Billings Pharmaceuticals seem to be influencing sales management decisions in a meaningful way? Why or why not?

Answer: No, the code of ethics at Billings Pharmaceuticals seems to have little to no effect on the influence of their sales management decisions in a meaningful way. This was exemplified when Beth went to her sales manager Bob to report the side effects of the pharmaceutical, Bob blatantly told her to look into promoting towards target markets that were unaware of the negative, threatening side effects.

3. In her boundary-spanning role, what is Beth’s responsibility for customer vulnerability of the physicians and their patients?

Answer: Once Beth used her personal moral judgment to acknowledge that the situation was wrong she should then proceed with her responsibility of informing her clients of the apparent side effects noticed from the former patients while still promoting her company’s product.

4. Describe the ethical climate in the sales organization at Billings.

Answer: The ethical climate for Billings Pharmaceutical although they promote respect, integrity, and excellence; we feel their code is falsified because they are more interested in “making the numbers.” For example, when Beth went to her sales manager Bob Pearce to inform him of her concerns he replied, “that concerns about Depolara and diabetes did come up, but that the company’s President had said, ‘There’s no scientific evidence establishing that Depolara causes...