Thrifty Supermarket Chain has 12 stores in the city of Gotham, U.S.A. The company's policy is to maintain the same prices for all items at all stores. However, the distribution manager knowingly sends the poorest cuts of meat and the lowest quality pro-duce to the store located in the low-income section of town. He justifies this action based on the fact that this store has the highest overhead due to factors such as employee turnover, pilferage, and vandalism. Is the distribution manager's economic rationale sufficient justification for his allocation method?

2, The Independent Chevy Dealers of Metropolis, U.S.A. have undertaken an advertising campaign headlined by the slogan: "Is your family's life worth 45 MPG?" The ads admit that while Chevy subcompacts are not as fuel efficient as foreign imports and cost more to maintain, they are safer according to government-sponsored crash tests. The ads implicitly ask if responsible parents, when purchasing a car, should trade off fuel efficiency for safety. Is it ethical for the dealers association to use a fear appeal to offset an economic disadvantage?

3, A few recent studies have linked the presence of the artificial sweetener, subsutural, to cancer in laboratory rats. While the validity of these findings has been hotly debated by medical experts, the Food and Drug Administration has ordered products containing the ingredient banned from sale in the U.S. The Jones Company sends all of its sugar-free J.C.Cola (which contains subsutural) to European supermarkets because the sweetener has not been banned there. Is it acceptable for the Jones Company to send an arguably unsafe product to another market without waiting for further evidence?

4, The Acme Company sells industrial supplies through its own sales force, which calls on company purchasing agents. Acme has found that providing the purchasing agent with small gifts helps cement cordial relationships and creates goodwill. Acme follows the policy that the bigger the order, the bigger the gift to the purchasing agent. The gifts range from a pair of tickets to a sporting event to outboard motors and snowmobiles. Acme does not give gifts to the personnel at the companies which they know to have an explicit policy prohibiting the acceptance of such gifts. Assuming no laws are violated, is Acme's policy of providing gifts to purchasing agents morally proper?

5, The Buy American Electronics Company has been selling its highly rated System X Color TV sets (21", 19", 12") for $700, $500, $300 respectively. These prices had been relatively uncompetitive in the market. After some study, Buy American substitutes several cheaper components (which engineering says nay reduce the quality of performance slightly) and passes on the savings that consumer has in the form of a $100 price reduction on each model. Buy American institutes a price-oriented promotional campaign which neglects to mention that the second generation System X sets are different from the first. Is the company's competitive strategy ethical?