The Moral Vision
Reciprocity
~ 151 ~
RECIPROCITY
When a certain tyre company of the western world
was on the point of launching its goods on the
market, it ran an advertising campaign which
promised that “whoever demonstrated a real defect
in the tyres would win a prize of $ 50,000.” People
naturally flocked to buy them. If they found a
defect, well and good. If not, they had nothing to
lose, because they would actually have purchased a
good set of tyres.
The company did then actually receive a number of
complaints of which 20 percent appeared to be
genuine. The complainants were duly sent
invitations to a seminar, their travelling expenses to
be paid for by the company. This gave them the
opportunity to air their respective views as to how
the tyres could be improved. A concrete proposal
was finally arrived at by consensus and rewards
were distributed at the closure of the seminar.
By taking into consideration the suggestions of its
customers, the Company was able to improve upon
the quality of the original tyre. Although the cost
