Robert Buey became chief executive officer of Phelps Manufacturing two years ago. At the time, the company was reporting lagging profits and Robert was brought in to"stir things up." The company has three divisions: electronics. fibre optics, and plumbing supplies. Robert has no interest in plumbing supplies, and one of the frst things he did was to put pressure on his accountants to reallocate some of the company's fixed costs away from the other two divisions to the plumbing division. This had the effect of causing the plumbing division to report losses during the past two years. In the past, it had always reported low, but acceptable, net income. Robert felt that this reallocation would shine a favourable light on tim in front of the board of directors because it meant that the electronics and fibre optics divisions would appear to be improving Since these are "businesses of the future, he believed that the stock market would react favourably to these increases, and not penalize the poor results of the plumbing division. Without this shift in the allocation of fixed costs, the profits of the electronics and fibre optics divisions would not have improved, But now the board of directors has suggested that the plumbing division be closed because it is reporting losses. This would mean that nearly 500 employees, many of whom have worked for Phelps their whole lives. would lose their jobs. If a division is reporting losses, does that necessarily mean that it should be closed? Was the reallocation of fixed costs across divisions unethical? Explain. What should Robert do