I read this article in the Wall Street Journal today about SAP AG being sued by Waste Management Inc. for $100 million plus punitive damages. Waste Management Inc. filed a complaint last month with a district court in Texas accusing SAP of selling its software using deceptive practices and failing to deliver an “out-of –the box integrated end-to end solution”. Waste Management Inc. needed to upgrade its software which it uses to manage its waste removal and recycling business. SAP claimed to have a “mature” and “proven” product. In demonstrations, SAP officials led Waste Management to believe that it had a finished product. The project started in 2005 was expected to complete in 18 months and isn’t complete as yet. Waste Management claims to have internal documents that prove that SAP knew it was misleading its customer. This is a typical example of how companies exaggerate what they have to sell their products and services.
There are many instances where a company would do anything to get people to get into a contract to buy or use their product and/ or services knowing that litigation are costly, time consuming and more often a waste of time for the customers. When a typical door-to-door salesman sells you a product that is an underperformer, most often, you question your own judgment and not the ethics of the seller. If you get tricked to buy something worth a dollar, you don’t really care but it is still a trick. There are instances when employees take the risk of exaggerating their qualifications in a resume as long as they land up with a job. All these things are escape our ethical radar. However, I believe we need to learn from exaggeration in a large scale like that done by SAP which reminds us that exaggeration is unethical.
Sources:
Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2008
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2008/03/24/daily34.html?ana=from_rss
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