Airbus and Ethics
QUESTIONS
1. Who benefits and who suffers from the alleged ethical and legal lapses of Airbus?
2. How should the public relations staff at Airbus respond to the articles appearing in The Economist, The Guardian, and Reuters News?
3. What steps might Boeing take to defend itself from this sort of competition?
4. Do you think that Boeing and Airbus behave differently in marketing their aircraft around the globe? How and why?
5. Had France adopted the OECD convention on bribery ahead of these transactions, would the firm's behavior have differed? Why?
Sources: "Airbus' Secret Past-Aircraft and Bribery," The Economist, June 14, 2003, pp. 55-58; Rob Evans and David Leigh, "Firms Can Keep Secret Agents: Minister Persuaded to Ease Anti-bribery Rules," The Guardian, January 25, 2005, p. 18; "EADS Says Airbus Audit Shows No Wrongdoing," Reuters News, April 3, 2007.