It's a fine line to walk when you run a business. After all, you want to rise above the competition, and you want to gain the business of the customers who buy products or purchase services in your industry. On the flip side, the good entrepreneur thrives on, and invites, some competition. What sort of a challenge would it be if you had no one to compete with? What sort of accomplishment is it to earn the business of customers no one else seeks?
These are the thoughts that went through my head while reading a "Speed Read" in the July 17th edition of Time magazine. According to writer Kathleen Kingsbury, a trio of conspirators recently tried to sell some of Coca-Cola's sensitive information to competitor PepsiCo.
Can you imagine how tempting that must have been for the folks over at Pepsi that took that call? They did right, though, and called the FBI. As the old saying goes, "All's fair in love and war." While taking up the offer for the goods may have been "fair" according to some business owners, it certainly wouldn't have been right. Three cheers for Pepsi's staff for letting ethics lead the way!
Melonie, that was a great about Pepsi being chivalrous with Coke's IP, but not every business can count on their competitors being so honest. For some industries, company espionage can merely be someone emailing a .jpeg image or short quip they heard at lunch http://www.iwantmyess.com/?page_id=6
Posted by: Marilee Veniegas | July 24, 2006 5:22 PM | Permalink to Comment