Question one

“Excellent Bicycles Ltd (EBL) has spent a great deal of money developing robust bicycles. The company
badly needs cash because it is financially overextended. If it does not get some large orders soon, it will
have to close down part of its operations which will put several thousand workers out of jobs.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EBL has been trying to interest the government of a neighboring
country in a large purchase. He learns that one of the key government ministers in charge of making the
final decision is heavily in debt. Besides, he needs the money to finance his forthcoming elections. His
government also needs the bicycles for its campaign agents in the forthcoming political campaigns. The
CEO quietly contacts that minister and offers him $100,000 in cash if he awards the contract to his firm.
The money is paid and the contract is awarded.” Basing yourself on this story and your knowledge of
Business Ethics:

a) Use an appropriate ethical principle to evaluate the ethical behaviour of EBL’s CEO.
(12 marks)

b) Suppose the minister of the neighboring country mentioned in the story had an offshore
account that had been used to purchase minority shares in EBL company, evaluate the minister’s ethical
behaviour. (8 marks)