You and Kristy devise a plan to develop an empty parcel of real estate on the south side of Chicago. The development consists of a 400 unit complex comprised of apartments for medium income occupants. The investment requires a down payment of $500,000. A little short on money, you approach your cousin Jimmy who happens to own a fitness center across the street from the potential development and ask to borrow $100,000 to satisfy the down payment. Your sales pitch to Jimmy is that, if the development goes through, then he'll have an influx of new customers, but you don't offer to make Jimmy part of the development deal. You convince Jimmy to let you borrow the $100,000. Ecstatic over the potential of new customers, Jimmy makes major improvements to his fitness center. Unfortunately, the deal falls through, but you still pay back the borrowed funds to Jimmy. Jimmy is now threatening to sue you and Kristy for the amount expended on his improvements. How do you explain the situation to Jimmy?

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum. should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?