Ethical questions in business

GOING INTO BUSINESS

• Would you ever go into business? What advantages/disadvantages does it

bring?
• What kind of business would you go into?
• Do you think one needs to have a „thick skin“ if one wants to be a good
businessman?

IMPULSE BUYERS – people who are tempted to buy certain products

HAVE YOU EVER BECOME AN IMPULSE BUYER? WHEN?

BRANDS

• To what extent are you particular about brands?

• Do you believe that certain brands (e.g. of clothes) are of a better quality
than normal goods that you can buy (e.g.) in the market place?

REPUTATION

• How important is a good reputation to a business?

• If you had to choose between buying something from a well-known shop of
a good reputation and buying the same thing more cheaply from a shop you
would know nothing about, which would you choose and why? Would you pay
more? Give examples
• How to gain a good reputation?
• On the other hand, how can bad reputation influence a business?
• Who can you definitely rely on when you want to know the reputation of
a service-provider? E.g. my best friend knows all about the quality
dentists in town, I can trush him!

„A GOOD PRODUCT WILL SELL ITSELF“ – is it true?

ATTRACTING YOUR ATTENTION

• What is the most common way of attracting people’s attention? –

advertisting in newspapers, commercials, billboards, ...
• What kind of advertisting do YOU believe the most?
• Are there any „unethical“ ways of attracting our attention? e.g. appealing
to small children that cannot distinguish between fiction and reality –
animated figures in commercials

ADVERTISING YOUR OWN PRODUCT

• If you were the owner of a company, how would you advertise your
services?

COMPETITION

• How to deal with competition? What would be good ways of reducing the
chances of my competition? E.g. creating a better website, lowering the
prices, paying huge money for advertisement, creating a scale of your loyal
customers,...

Examples:

• In Slovakia, which do you think has a better way of advertising, ORANGE

or T-MOBILE? Which one do you prefer? Why? Are you a fan of so called
„holiday promotions“/discounts/bonuses,...
• Have you ever been deceived by a certain company? How? What other bad
experiences do you have in this field?

VOCABULARY:

commercial – reklama (TV) loyal - verný

competition - konkurencia
deceived – oklamaný, podvedený
discount – zľava
distinguish - rozoznať
goods - tovar
influence - ovplyvňovať
promotion – podpora predaja
rely on – spoľahnúť sa na
tempted – zvádzaný, pokúšaný
thick skin – hrošia koža
to be particular about – potrpieť si