Describe an ethical dilemma that you have encountered in professional, academic or personal experience. How did you handle it and what is the outcome? (limit 500 words)
An ethical dilemma befell me in 1994, when I was working for the China Textiles Resources. At the time, I had a long-term contract with a famous domestic beverage producer to supply it with a kind of antiseptic agent called sodium benzoate (S.B.). The contract was signed after I had wooed the beverage producer for a year. The contract would bring my company quite significant profit each year.
By chance, I got to know a trader of potassium sorbate (P.S.), a new kind of antiseptics, and I quickly learned the advantages of the potassium sorbate over the sodium benzoate. When the S.B. decomposes, it produces a kind of Benzoate salt that is harmful to people, while the P.S. decomposes into water and carbon dioxide that are of no harm to human beings.
So I had to confront a dilemma. I would like to recommend the new antiseptics to my client, which would not only reduce their cost but also help the environment. But if I did, I would lose the deal with the client. As the above-mentioned trader was the sole agent of P.S., it would be impossible for me to provide the client with the new antiseptic in place of the old one. But I had to consider that the P.S. would help the producer make better products, products that would not contain the potentially cancer-causing agent that S.B. would discharge.
After several days of agonizing, I decided in the end to advise my client for a change of the antiseptic. I believed that people's health should come before profits. I also figured that, to do viable business, I should take care of my client's long-term interests. It would be better to build up my reputation rather than make quick money.
As expected, I did lose the S.B. deal with my client but they really appreciated my good will in trying to improve their products. I was proud of myself for doing the right thing. After they got to know the sacrifices I made, they appreciated me even more. In the next season, they made me another deal, which brought me better profits than the one before. The moral of this episode is that, in business as elsewhere, doing the right thing brings its reward, particularly when the right thing helps reinforce one's good reputation.
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