Case Study

Terry Bishop

Business Ethics

Case 1.2

Question:

1. How would you advise me? Should I dip into my other assests to repay those who were hurt? Or, should I just take what happened in strede as a part of business and sleep soundly at night?

Answer:

I would advise Dan to take what happened in stride as a part of business and sleep soundly at night. In business there are certain risks involved, these risks cannot be taken out of the equation and we cannot forget that each party involved was fully aware of the risk before they decided to invest. I completely understand the rationale behind Dan feeling bad about the failure of the business, but in this situation I believe one has to put emotions to the side and make sound judgements based on business priciples. One of Dan’s partners makes a good point by stating “both investor and contractor have been around long enough to understand the risks involved and that any other assests that Dan may have are not relevant to the failure of the business.” This statement is true because that’s how business works. Nothing that Dan or his partners have fone up to this point have been unjust or unethical.

Question:

2. How do I correctly apply the Bible’s instruction to this situation?

Answer:

The way that I would apply Biblical instruction to this situation is by making sure I haven’t done anything that displeases God according to the scriptures. Dan has done nothing wrong and his hands are clean in terms of conducting business fairly. Sometimes in business, things aren’t always a success and losses occur, it’s just the nature of the beast.