Lisa is a recruiter for Intellicorp.  She frequently travels to various business schools and meets with potential candidates at job fairs where she leaves the attendees with an Intellicorp pen.  Lisa needs to reorder pens and has narrowed her selection to QuickPens or PensRus.  Both companies are offering Lisa the same low price and both companies also have a high reputation for quality products.  Lisa is aware of QuickPen’s efforts to be an environmentally conscious “green” company.  This is an issue that is very important to Lisa on a personal level.  

Is it ethical for Lisa to choose Company A simply because that company shares her compassion for the environment in a way that Company B does not?

Although this scenario may seem easy to answer, the ethical issues to be considered include company values versus personal values, personal bias and fairness. All decisions regarding vendor usage should be consistent with the company’s values, needs and policies; not one’s personal values. No matter what Lisa's personal preference, the right thing to do is to consider what the best choice is for the company. Since Lisa is making a vendor selection on behalf of the company, the company’s values must be the guide for this decision. If employees were allowed to make vendor choices based on personal biases, this could cause problems for the company. Moreover, there are laws and regulations that the company must adhere to regarding vendor contracts. To help ensure Intellicorp complies with these laws, Corporate Procurement has policies in place to ensure that ethics and fair dealing are elements of the business process.