Case 2-1 Ethics case: Brixton Surgical Devices

Brixton Surgical Devices, a public company with sales of over $900,000,000, is one of the world's largest producers of surgical clamps, saws, screws, and sterns. Its business involves production of both stock items and custom pieces for doctors at research hospitals.

At the end of the thirds quarter of 2020, it became clear Ed Walters, Chief operating officer, and Robin Smith CFO, that the company would not make aggressive annual earnings target specified by the board of directors. In consequence, Ed and Robin would not receive bonuses, which historically had averaged about 60% of their base compensation. The two devised the following strategy. "Here's what we'll do," suggested Ed. "We've never offered our customers a discount. Let's change that right now. We'll offer a 25% discount on all orders placed in October and November for delivery in December of 2020."

"That will certainly boost fourth quarter sales, "said Robin, "But you know, it won't really increase total sales. It'll just transfer some sales from the 1st quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2020. Of course, 2020 is where we need earnings to hit our bonus target. Hey, I've got another idea. We can also jack up production of our stock items in the fourth quarter. With our high-priced production equipment, we've got a ton of overhead. But the more we produce the more overhead we can bury in the inventory. With the lower unit costs and higher sales, profit will go way up. Let's get going on execution. I've got to get the marketing people working the promotion, and you've go to update the production schedule. This could end up being our best year in terms of bonuses!"

Are the proposed actions of Ed and Robin ethical?