A Plumbing Supply Firm Can Win a Contract with a Home-Building

Multiple Choice

A plumbing supply firm can win a contract with a home-building business by promising to get 500 faucet assemblies of a certain make by Tuesday morning. Actually, the customer representative finalizing the deal knows that their supplier normally takes an extra day to get them to the firm. But lately, due to the housing slowdown, shipments have been arriving a day earlier. The customer representative therefore promises Tuesday delivery to the home-building business, reasoning that if the faucets do come a day later, as they often do, he can come up with a plausible excuse.
Which of the following, if true, would justify the customer representative's ethical position?

A) The home-building firm sometimes picks up shipments of supplies several days after they arrive.
B) The customer rep knows that if the faucets do come in early, the home-building firm will choose to do business with them more often.
C) The home-building firm has a brief written code of ethics that has no statement that applies specifically to this situation.
D) When phoned for advice, the plumbing supply firm's CEO told the customer rep that it was OK to "fib a little" to get a contract like this.
E) The faucet shipment comes with a tracking number and goes to a distribution center within driving distance, so that, if necessary, the plumbing firm can expedite its arrival.