Response to Kendra's post, AMA Should John Sell the Information?

I agree with Kendra's post that nowhere in the statement of ethics for AMA does it clearly state John's accepting of the cash for the survey is un-ethical.  I also voted that John should sell the survey which saves his company and delays if not cancels the lay off of members of his business.  Kendra brings up a good point that it would be un-ethical if John told those taking the survey it would be confidential and then sell it which wasn't the case.  Nothing is stating selling the survey is illegal, so it is more beneficial for John's firm to sell it than to not to.  Big businesses want information which leads to more money for them.  If they can pay a small business not a lot of money and get the information which leads them to gain a lot more money, their going to do it.  Small businesses can't say no a lot of times because they don't have the leverage or profits to.  If small businesses were smart, they would realize the information they have is worth something and sell it to the highest bidder.

Do you think companies help each other out like sending information about their customers to each other?

To Sell or Not to Sell?

John Smith should sell the names because his business is about to be bankrupt and this is his only choice if he wants to stay in business.  The AMA Statement of Ethics talks about doing the right thing and promoting the highest standard of professional ethical norms and values for its members.  Their ethics concentrates on three main points which are do no harm, foster trust in the marketing system, and embrace ethical values.  I believe that collecting money for a survey done from a bigger company when in need doesn't go against these ethics.  Good things can come from this transaction for John's small marketing research firm because more bigger businesses can acknowledge this and realize it can help their business out.  Having John's firm do the dirty work and pay them less than you're going to gain from it is a win win situation for both businesses.  I do believe this is a common dilemma because bigger businesses take advantage of smaller ones like John's in which they gain a profit from it.

Could John turn this deal down and stay in business? If yes, how so?