| Course | GB500 Business Perspectives |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Discussion board post |
| Length | About 430 words, 2 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 discussion post |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB500 Unit 8
A Competitor's Bid in the Inbox: A Unit 8 Ethics Post on a Sales Director's Choice
GB500 · Unit 8 Discussion
Posted by [Student Name]
The equipment maker, its staff, the city contract and the classmates are composite; the sources cited are real.
Initial Post
Here is the situation. Dana Pruitt is regional sales director for a mid-sized maker of street sweepers. A city is buying twelve sweepers, about $3.4 million, and bids are due Friday. On Tuesday, a sales rep who joined the company two weeks ago from its main competitor forwards her a spreadsheet with the subject line "thought this might help." It is the competitor's internal pricing and margin sheet for the city bid.
R. Edward Freeman's stakeholder view asks who is affected and how (Freeman, 1984). The competitor loses a trade secret it paid to develop. The city loses a fair competition, since one bidder would know the other's price. The new rep is exposed to legal claims for taking confidential files. Dana's own company risks litigation, disqualification from public bids and damage to its name. Her sales team, who earn commission on the deal, would gain in the short run.
Every stakeholder except the commission line is harmed by using the file, and the commission line is harmed too if the company is caught.
A consequences-based view asks which choice produces the best outcomes overall, and a duty-based view asks whether the act respects others' rights regardless of outcomes (Beauchamp et al., 2009). Here they agree. Using the file would likely win this bid but risks far larger losses, and it treats the competitor's property and the city's process as things to exploit. Neither framework supports it.
Dana should not open the spreadsheet further or share it. She should tell the rep, in writing, that the company does not use competitors' confidential information, delete her copy and report the email to the company's legal counsel the same day, so that counsel can document the response and protect the company. And she should bid on her own costs and value.
Classmates, would your answer change if the file had arrived anonymously rather than from your own employee?
Reply to Carmen
Carmen, you would report the rep to HR as well. I agree, but should the rep be disciplined for a first offense two weeks into the job, or retrained?
Reply to Jamal
Jamal, you argue the bid could be withdrawn to avoid any appearance of misuse. Is that fair to the sales team if counsel documents that the file was never used?
References
Beauchamp, T. L., Bowie, N. E., & Arnold, D. G. (2009). Ethical theory and business (8th ed.). Pearson.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Pitman.
The Purdue Global GB500 Unit 8 instructions
The GB500 ethics board asks you to decide a business situation where the numbers and the right thing pull apart. State the facts and the pressure plainly, without editorializing. Apply stakeholder analysis, naming each affected group and what the choice does to it. Then test the options with two frameworks from the reading, such as a consequences-based view and a duty-based view, and note where they agree or disagree. Decide, and say exactly what the manager does, including who is told and how it is documented. Close with a question that tests a classmate's reasoning. Keep the initial post to three or four hundred words with one or two APA 7 citations, and write two short replies that press a classmate's decision where it is weakest.
How this GB500 Unit 8 example is built
The post sets out the facts: a regional sales director, a city buying twelve sweepers for about $3.4 million, a Friday deadline and a new rep's spreadsheet titled thought this might help. Freeman's stakeholder view names the competitor's lost trade secret, the city's unfair competition, the rep's legal exposure, the company's risk of litigation and disqualification, and the sales team's commission, and the highlighted sentence says only the commission line gains and only briefly. Consequences-based and duty-based views from Beauchamp, Bowie and Arnold agree against using the file. The decision is to stop, tell the rep in writing, delete the copy, report to legal counsel the same day and bid on the company's own costs. The closing question asks whether an anonymous file would change the answer. Replies ask Carmen about disciplining the rep and Jamal about withdrawing the bid.
GB500 Unit 8 rubric: what earns full points
GB500 rubric points for this post go to a clear statement of the dilemma, accurate use of frameworks and a decision with concrete steps. Instructors look for facts stated neutrally. Stakeholder analysis should name each affected group and its stake in the outcome. Applying two frameworks, and noting where they agree, shows ethical reasoning rather than opinion. A decision that specifies who is told and how it is documented earns more than a general statement of values. The closing question and replies should test reasoning, not simply agree. Freeman's Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach and Beauchamp, Bowie and Arnold's Ethical Theory and Business form the citations in APA 7.
Common GB500 Unit 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Many GB500 Unit 8 posts state that the manager should do the right thing without saying what that is. Others apply one framework loosely or list several without using any. A frequent gap is the action: deciding not to use confidential information is only half the answer, since the manager must also tell the person who sent it and document the response. Some replies agree without testing anything. State the facts, map stakeholders, apply two frameworks, decide with concrete steps and use replies to press a classmate's weakest point.
Get a GB500 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Your Unit 8 board prompt and the discussion rubric are the inputs; add the scenario if your instructor assigned one. From those, a finished ethics post with two replies is written in 24 to 48 hours. The first is free, and the frameworks it applies are the ones named in your GB500 reading. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GB500 Unit 8 questions, answered
Which ethical frameworks does the GB500 ethics board usually expect?
Most sections draw on the frameworks in the unit reading, commonly stakeholder theory, a duty-based or rights-based view, and a consequences-based view, sometimes with corporate social responsibility models such as the triple bottom line. Finished posts borrow the reading's own vocabulary. Applying two frameworks to the same decision and noting where they agree usually reads stronger than surveying several.
Can the ethics post discuss a real corporate scandal?
Many prompts invite it, and a documented case such as a public accounting restatement gives your post sources to cite. The risk is retelling the scandal at length. A finished post uses the real case briefly and spends its words on what a manager inside that company should have done at a specific moment, which is where the frameworks do their work.
How do replies earn full credit on this board?
In most GB500 sections, a reply earns its points by extending or challenging the classmate's reasoning, often with a question tied to a stakeholder or a framework and a short supporting source. Two or three substantive sentences plus a citation usually outperform a long paragraph of agreement. Timing matters too, as replies after the final deadline may not count.
Where can I find a free GB500 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB500 Unit 8 business ethics post on a sales director handed a competitor's confidential bid pricing, with stakeholder and framework analysis, a decision, two replies and APA 7 references.
Why report the email to legal counsel if the file is not used?
Counsel can document that the company refused and deleted the file, which protects it if the competitor later claims misuse. Reporting also lets counsel advise on how to handle the new rep.