Swan Sports manufactures golfing equipment. Traditionally, the company has been busy all year but has noticed that over the past few years business has fallen off in October and November. If new business does not come in this year, the company will have to lay off some longtime employees for those 2 months. Rob Patell, a sales representative, received an order from Better Equipment Co., a competitor. Better Equipment cannot meet a customer’s rush order on time and is willing to subcontract the work to Swan Sports on the condition that the Better Equipment Co. name—not Swan Sports’ name—appear on all products. The order is at a price substantially below Swan Sports’ usual selling price. The only way this order can be produced is to use lower quality materials than Swan Sports normally uses in its own products.

Rob Patell has recommended to his supervisor that this order be accepted and that lower-quality materials be used. Patell’s reasoning includes the following points:

a. It is clearly a one-time order.

b. Swan Sports’ name will not appear on it.

c. Workers will not have to be laid off during October and November.

A differential analysis shows that Swan Sports will lose \($1,000\) on the order.

Required What should the sales supervisor consider before making a decision?