If I were in Jeff s position I would ensure that the relationship between the suppliers and management would be preserved by taking both sides mnto account. [ would call a meeting between the two and see 1f a compromise could be made. The ethical 1ssues involved were that the management violated the trust that they had buility with the suppliers by not only asking them to reduce their prices after an agreement had already been made but then asking them to reduce their prices even further and penalize those who compiled the first time. I don't think the general manager' approach to meeting target cost objectives was done well. First of all, 1t was management that overshot the cost in the first place. Then they risked damaging relationships with the suppliers and disrupting the supply chain to fix this relationship