19th June 2007, 11:11 AM
Hmmm. Business and ethics is always a grey area. To do as you have mentioned makes sound business practice only if you are desperate for the work. If you are busy and making a reasonable profit then why waste the time undercutting another archaeological business where the margins are low anyway? (unless your aiming to take on this client and hold on to them as a regular customer, thus expanding your client base). Ethically, in archaeology with low margins,are you going to put the opposition out of business or is it just competative business practise? Do you have responsibility to keeping your staff employed or someone elses?? I have used comparison pricing in other business to determine if my service charges are out of line with the competition and, in retail it's a fairly standard practise. However if I came across as a bast$:face-approve:d in the industry my business reputation would have suffered due to the large amount of goodwill amongst customers and suppliers that could have been damaged. This in turn would drastically affect the value of the business and further future marketability. Very Grey area Mr Hosty.