Sarah Murphy thought that at long last, her company, Nortel Technologies, was about to win a major

contract from Suncore Instruments. Suncore, a maker of precision measuring instruments, was sourcing a

large contract for component subassemblies. The contract that Nortel Technologies was bidding on was

worth at least $2.5 million annually, a significant amount given Nortels annual sales of $30 million. Her

team had spent hundreds of hours preparing the quotaon and felt they could meet Suncores

requirements in quality, cost, delivery, part standardizaon, and simplificaon. In fact, Sarah had never

been more confident about a quote meeng the demanding requirements of a potenal customer.

Gord Smyrna, the buyer at Suncore Instruments responsible for awarding this contract, called Sarah and

asked to meet with her at his office to discuss the specifics of the contract. When she arrived, Sarah soon

realized that the conversaon was not going exactly as she had expected. Gord informed Sarah that Nortel

Technologies had indeed prepared a solid quotaon for the contract. However, when he visited Nortels

facility earlier on a prequalifying visit, he was disturbed to see a significant amount of a competors

product being used by Nortel. Gord explained his uneasiness with releasing part plans and designs to a

company that clearly had involvement with a competor.

When Sarah asked, what Nortel could do to minimize his uneasiness, Gord replied that he would be more

comfortable if Nortel no longer used the competors equipment and used Suncores equipment instead.

Sarah responded that this would mean replacing several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment.

Unfazed, Troy simply asked her whether or not she wanted the business. Sarah responded that she needed

some me to think and that she would get back to Gord in a day or so.

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think the buyer at Suncore Instruments, Gord Smyrna, is praccing unethical behavior?

First, what is the term for this behavior, and second, defend why you think it is ethical or

unethical behavior. (5 marks)

2. What should Sarah do in this situaon? Formulate a response. (5 marks)