Moral Issues in Business

Selling or buying a used car can be fraught with problems. Some believe that buying a used car is simply buying someone else's problem, and the warning "buyer beware" applies to used cars even more than to new products.

Any seller wants to get the maximum price possible for his or her product; any buyer wants to pay the lowest possible price for the same product. Buyers are eager to spot bargains (when they receive greater value than what they pay), but there is often distrust between buyers and sellers of used vehicles, in part because there are so many different things which can go wrong with a vehicle.

The moral judgment that Ron faces involves the prima facie natural issue of honesty, as well as the role-based prima facie moral obligation imposed by being the seller of the vehicle. Although Ron needs money for school, and naturally wants the most money possible for that purpose, he also knows that there is a strong possibility that the vehicle he is selling will break down in the near future and necessitate $600 in repairs. He has recognized that he has some obligation to respond to this knowledge by reducing the price of the car by $300, and has justified this decision over reducing the price by $600 by calculating that someone purchasing the vehicle will be able to fix it and sell it for more than they will have paid (including both Ron's selling price and the price of repairs). However, he has also decided that, if queried about the mechanical condition of the c

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yet to produce such a fiber. However, the customer is proposing to sell the sleepwear in Latin America where there are no such restrictions. Thus from a legal standpoint, the fiber manufacturer and the apparel manufacturer are both operating in accordance with accepted industry practices. The issue is thus not a legal one, but a moral one. Should the fiber manufacturer sell to a company whose products could not legally be sold in the United States, but whose products can be legally sold in another country despite the fact that they are less safe as sold in the target country? Here, the question is not one of honesty (the companies are not claiming that their product is flame resistant or flame retardant), nor is the question one of fulfilling a social role. There is an issue of justice, in that it could be argued that while American children deserve the safer flame resistant and flame retardant material mandated by law, children in Latin America do not. The salesman could choose not to sell the fiber to Tiny Tot Sleepwear knowing that the fiber is not as safe as other fibers available. This would keep the fiber manufacturer's profits lower than if the sale were made, but would prevent the fiber manufacturer from participa

Category: Business - M