There are a number of ethical dilemmas in this discussion. The most imperative issue is related to Mega-Mart itself because it’s ethical responsibility is to ensure that the suppliers’ requirements and product implementation conditions are equally feasible, as well as, executable for the vendors and does not produce any unnecessary hardship. Another ethical issue is related to the responsibility of suppliers towards their employees. If there is an option that the organization can avail to assist its employees, it should certainly bring it on. That is because keeping employees conversant and informed will help them to perform better in the situation. One thing that I would endeavor to do is to contact Mega-Mart’s other suppliers to know if they are in the same boat and facing the similar situation. This can help to determine the percentage of suppliers that will be influenced by the Mega-Mart’s policy change. Not only this, but it will also help finding out the extent of pressure that Mega-Mart could potentially exert over suppliers.
For instance, if the percentage of policy affected suppliers would be greater enough, then they would be able to influence Mega-Mart to be reasonable flexible and to adopt changes that are beneficial for all the members of the values chain. This is equally beneficial for Mega-Mart to keep everyone on the same page or else it may result in several other problems for the business i.e. delay in schedules, late deliveries etc. I would also work out a proposal for Mega-Mart that would suggest a certain time period that my company would need for their demanded technological upgrades i.e. RFID. I would also complementarily offer Mega-Mart to accept my company as an experimenting arena for all their latest technological implementation that they may undertake in future, and may also offer new shipping methods in return to the shared expenses for equipment advancements and upgrades (Heizer & Render, 2011).
References
Heizer, J. and Render, B. (2011). Operations Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Education Inc. Retrieved on July 13, 2016
