Problem
I. Watch the video in "Muscling Manufacturers." If you were a manufacturer and you had to raise prices due to an increase in price for your raw materials, and if Wal-Mart was your most important customer, what strategies would you employ so that both parties would have a chance to have a "win-win" outcome?
II. Are mandatory arbitration clauses simply a fact of life? Consider the Public Citizen report, the recent Washington Supreme Court case (State of Wash. Dep't of Transp. v. James River Ins. Co.), and the voluntarily actions taken by some credit card companies to drop mandatory arbitration clauses when answering this question. Even though the law appears to favor mandatory arbitration, why do you think some companies are dropping these clauses?
III. Do you think "ethics hotlines" that some companies establish can address all disputes before they get out of hand? Why or why not? What type of dispute might not be appropriate to bring to an ethics hotline program?