5 pages. -Ethics-Amazon.com Acquisition of Diapers.com In 2009Amazon.com acquired Diapers.com (an online site for purchasing diapers and other baby supplies). Diapers.com had developed a very effective warehousing and distribution system for handing the sale of diapers for infant children, and were therefore able to sell them at very low costs and deliver them to customers on a planned schedule without having to continuously order them. Amazon wanted to expand their online business and were interested in entering this product category. Diapers.com had very quickly grown to a dominant market position and were expanding into other areas. Diapers.com had unique capabilities that Amazon.com did not have to effectively serve this market; and therefore Amazon.com was very interested in acquiring them. Amazon.com held preliminary conversations with the management of Diapers.com (parent company was Quidsi) regarding a potential acquisition. The management and other investors in Diapers.com were not interested in being acquired as they wanted to remain independent and continue to grow their business. Amazon.com then proceeded to start their own division to sell diapers and related products online in direct completion with Diapers.com. As a way to bring Diapers.com around to Amazons way of thinking regarding the acquisition, Amazon began to undercut Diapers.com in pricing and even selling diapers at a loss and with free shipping. For a period of time, Diapers.com tried to maintain customers by appealing to their sense of loyalty, but over time, they began to lose customers due to pricing. Diapers.com did not have the financial resources to compete with Amazon on this basis and ultimately agreed to sell to Amazon for terms very favorable to Amazon, as the management of Diaper.com were now faced with financial losses that they could not sustain. (Refer to The Everything Store, by Brad Stone, published by Little Brown and Company, 2013, Chapter 10) Using the principles of ethics covered in Chapter 4 of our textbook, write a 5-7 page paper on how you see this case in terms of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Was what Amazon.com did ethical? If so why? If not why not? Apply the principles of ethical decision making as well as additional outside resources to argue your case. Principles of Ethical Decision Making Principle of long-term self- interest (is it in the best interest of those affected) Principle of personal virtue (is it honest and truthful) Principle of religious injunctions (does it harm the sense of community) Principle of government requirements (is it the law, does the action violate any laws?) Principle of utilitarian benefits (does it server the greater good of society) Principle of individual rights (does it infringe on rights of others) Principle of distributive justice (does it harm the least fortunate) Paper should clearly and completely identify: 1. The facts of the case 2. The ethical issue or issues 3. The stakeholders impacted by the decision (all those who are affected) 4. How the decision will affect the stakeholders, applying the above Ethical Decision Making Criteria. 5. The final decision based on the above process and the reasons Paper should include an abstract, an introduction with a summary of the case; an analysis of the actions of Amazon.com applying the Principles of Ethical Decision Making as outlined above; a summary of your decision based on the analysis; and recommended actions that Amazon.com could have taken (if you found the actions of Amazon.com as unethical) to have a successful acquisition without resorting to unethical behavior. If you judged Amazon.com actions as ethical, could there have taken a different approach that might have been more acceptable to Diapers.com; and a summary of the papers key points.

5 pages. -Ethics-Amazon.com Acquisition of Diapers.com In 2009Amazon.com acquired Diapers.com (an online site for purchasing diapers and other baby supplies). Diapers.com had developed a very effective warehousing and distribution system for handing the sale of diapers for infant children, and were therefore able to sell them at very low costs and deliver them to customers on a planned schedule without having to continuously order them. Amazon wanted to expand their online business and were interested in entering this product category. Diapers.com had very quickly grown to a dominant market position and were expanding into other areas. Diapers.com had unique capabilities that Amazon.com did not have to effectively serve this market; and therefore Amazon.com was very interested in acquiring them. Amazon.com held preliminary conversations with the management of Diapers.com (parent company was Quidsi) regarding a potential acquisition. The management and other investors in Diapers.com were not interested in being acquired as they wanted to remain independent and continue to grow their business. Amazon.com then proceeded to start their own division to sell diapers and related products online in direct completion with Diapers.com. As a way to bring Diapers.com around to Amazons way of thinking regarding the acquisition, Amazon began to undercut Diapers.com in pricing and even selling diapers at a loss and with free shipping. For a period of time, Diapers.com tried to maintain customers by appealing to their sense of loyalty, but over time, they began to lose customers due to pricing. Diapers.com did not have the financial resources to compete with Amazon on this basis and ultimately agreed to sell to Amazon for terms very favorable to Amazon, as the management of Diaper.com were now faced with financial losses that they could not sustain. (Refer to The Everything Store, by Brad Stone, published by Little Brown and Company, 2013, Chapter 10) Using the principles of ethics covered in Chapter 4 of our textbook, write a 5-7 page paper on how you see this case in terms of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Was what Amazon.com did ethical? If so why? If not why not? Apply the principles of ethical decision making as well as additional outside resources to argue your case. Principles of Ethical Decision Making Principle of long-term self- interest (is it in the best interest of those affected) Principle of personal virtue (is it honest and truthful) Principle of religious injunctions (does it harm the sense of community) Principle of government requirements (is it the law, does the action violate any laws?) Principle of utilitarian benefits (does it server the greater good of society) Principle of individual rights (does it infringe on rights of others) Principle of distributive justice (does it harm the least fortunate) Paper should clearly and completely identify: 1. The facts of the case 2. The ethical issue or issues 3. The stakeholders impacted by the decision (all those who are affected) 4. How the decision will affect the stakeholders, applying the above Ethical Decision Making Criteria. 5. The final decision based on the above process and the reasons Paper should include an abstract, an introduction with a summary of the case; an analysis of the actions of Amazon.com applying the Principles of Ethical Decision Making as outlined above; a summary of your decision based on the analysis; and recommended actions that Amazon.com could have taken (if you found the actions of Amazon.com as unethical) to have a successful acquisition without resorting to unethical behavior. If you judged Amazon.com actions as ethical, could there have taken a different approach that might have been more acceptable to Diapers.com; and a summary of the papers key points.