Case Study

John Smith owns a small marketing research firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which employs 75 people. Most employees are the sole breadwinners in their families. John’s firm has not fared well for past two years and is on the verge of bankruptcy. The company recently surveyed more than 2,000 people in Ohio about new care purchase plans for the Ohio Department of Economic Development. Because the study identified many hot prospects for new cars, a car dealer has offered John $8,000 for the names and phone numbers of people saying they are “likely” or “very likely” to buy a new car within the next 12 months. John needs the money to avoid laying off a number of employees.

Should John sell these names because he is in dire need of money?

I personally think that John should not sell these names. Although he is in dire need of money, what he would be doing is very unethical and morally incorrect. He would be giving a very bad reputation to his company if word leaked out of what he did if he did do it, and in turn could really hurt his business; if not put him out of a job. According to the AMA Statement of Ethics, it talks about loyalty and honesty to its customers, but more importantly as a company itself. By selling the names, that is not being loyal or honest at all, but being cheap and almost running a scam.

I am completely against John Smith doing this. This action is actually more common than people think in today's world that we live in, and I think it is so terrible and people that do it should be fined mass amounts of money to prevent it from continuously reoccurring.