Page 21 - Phissons Ethics Dilemma

Moreover, like an unexploded bomb, the problem must be defused before it blows up in

your face. The Thoikol engineers who were hesitant about the safety of the O-ring in

cold temperatures no doubt could point to how the attitude of the Challenger space

managers inhibited their ability to push their concerns up to the final decision makers.

After all seven astronauts were killed in the resulting explosion, investigators suggested

that NASA officials were operating in a “get-this-launched-at-all-costs” culture rather

than one in which “safety first” was the predominant value.

Reflecting on his MBA days he recalled the cost – benefit analysis of the Ford Pinto

dilemma, the Thalidomide issue with Distillers and more recently the Martin Shkreli

issues over Daraprim and Thiola.

The Future Market

Phisson’s markets would initially comprised the

UK and Europe and it seemed that its natural

extension would be into the Northern American

market. These would be followed by entry into

the South American and Australian markets.

However, industrialisation and globalisation

with its associated increase in asthma sufferers

held out the possibility of the developing world following the pattern of the developed

world with increasing numbers of asthma sufferers.