by Lance Naismith

Created on: June 22, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

When you walk into a local store - not one of the big chains but, a store established by someone who lives and works in the community, it is usually a store that relies on word of mouth advertising, not TV, radio, newspaper and billboard ads. The kind of place your friend sends you. For them, ethics is a big element in their working philosophy. Relying on word-of-mouth advertising requires a business person to ensure high customer satisfaction and a great part of this is how they deal with problems in an ethical manner.

But when a company gets to a certain size where TV, radio, magazine and newspaper ads are very much in their methodology to attract new customers, do they need to worry about the occasional customer complaint? Can their size and advertising budget quash any consumer concerns? Can they lower their ethics to maximize their profit?

I know of two companies that have used unethical practices to further their business situation and the facts to prove it. What you are about to read is FACT, undisputed and on record and therefore all the worse for it actually happening.

Mattamy Homes, a large house building corporation has made a North American reputation for building quality homes. Yes, I must say most of their homes are built in a professional manner. They are even advancing forward thinking assembly line construction in large factories on-site. But, they sold a house without electrical power. They even illegally (code) wired the furnace to an unoccupied house next door and had a Town of Oakville inspector pass this, even though his director is on file stating they would not issue an occupancy permit to a house in such condition.

Why did they do this? Can it be that without the furnace working, they could not legally close the sale? Would you consider this an ethical way to do business? But then, Mattamy Homes has a large advertising budget and they donate millions to Town of Oakville projects and to other jurisdictions. They supply free bus service in the Town of Milton. Now, how does one fight city hall and Mattamy Homes when faced with this type of business practice? You don't and both know that if they keep quiet, this kind of problem drifts away. Poor ethics win.

Now, Ford Motor Company has built an advertised reputation for quality and customer care. Did you know that they built F150 trucks with a built in problem of leaking front windows? They built a certain number of these trucks without properly sealing the window. Over time (usually after

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