ETHICAL DILEMMA 6 Who cares whose shares? a become something of an institution; spending quiet Sunday afternoons with your partner's It he in the Countryside away from the hustle and bustle of city life. The fresh air, green scenery, and aver pace of life contrast greatly with the stresses and strains of the working week in London. The Sast seems even more marked since you started working at PharmChemCo (PCC) 18 months ComVou constantly remind yourself that the long hours and big salary are worth it, as are the career ortunities; PCC is one of the biggest pharmaceutical and chemical companies in the world. It Oppdso turned you into quite a successful player in the stock market. Since you were promoted to regional Marketing Director for the North East, PCC has paid a large chunk of your bonuses in stock ans Even with a dipping market, this has proved to be an extremely lucrative package, given your suCcess in meeting sales targets and, of course, shrewd investment decisions. This particular Sunday, however, city life is taking its toll. Here you are, sat in front of a roaring log fire overlooking the rolling hills, yet the last week in the office is still playing on your mind. A special meeting was called by one of the vice-presidents for all of the senior managers. At the meeting, it was announced that scientists in a leading research lab at a university in the US had discovered some potentially lethal side-effects associated with one of PCC's bestselling herbicides. The report had been confidential to the board of PCC, but an article containing the research was going to be pub- lished in Big Science magazine on Thursday next week. The purpose of the meeting was to inform everybody and to discuss potential strategies to tackle the problem. Consequently, you were urged to stay absolutely silent about the research findings, particularly as the likelihood was that this would turn out to be a major news story. Knowing about this makes you uneasy now. For one thing, it is pretty certain that this information will have a major effect on the share price of PCC, as court cases in the US with huge damages are a certainty. Digesting the news in your office after lunch, you had already decided to sell your shares in PC first thing on Monday-as it is almost certain that the value of your stocks will not be the same in the foreseeable future once this news is out. However, you also worry about the impact the news may have on Julia, your partner's mother, who happens to be an Account Manager for a major investment bank. Not only are you aware that she has invested heavily in PCC shares, she has also advised many of her clients over her years in industry-among them managers of major funds-to invest in PCC. You are quite unsure about what you should do. You have a good relationship with Julia and often discuss work debates over lunch. You want to give her advance warning of the news and get in her good books, particularly because you know that she will hear the news soon anyway given her large network. But if you tell her now, you are certain that she will sell her own shares (which you really would not mind), but as she is measured by the performance of her advice to her clients, you can be pretty certain that she will also advise her clients to sell. The effect on the share price before the pub- lication of the article could be substantial. Suddenly city life is leaving a bad taste in your mouth and you are torn between staying put and keeping quiet, or making an early getaway back to avoid the in- evitable lunchtime discussions. Then again, maybe dropping a small hint wouldn't be too problematic? Please answer below question 1- What are the main ethical issues in this case?