5. What factors would motivate his action?

a) mothers value/ family education

The ethics of doing the right thing is very important in his family, because thats really
have they have, considering their below average financial situation. Okumotos mother
had instilled in him at early age that regardless of what he does, always take the high road,
always do the right thing. This has influenced him throughout his career to be as ethical
as possible. Hence, this motivates him to do the right choice in this case.
b) Experienced mentors with high integrity
Okumoto has admired a number of managers he had work before working in Electro
Scientific Industries, Inc., who had set high professional and ethical standards for him
and his co-workers. He is fortunate to have three exceptional mentors: Woody Spedden,
Jim Hefferman and Don Waite, all these three individuals upheld high integrity. Aside
from technical training he received from them, he also had strong ethical grounding.
They would always tell him to ask himself what are his obligations to others?
c) Past work experience
Previously, he had been in a situation where he had not spoken up. He had been a CFO
for another public company. He as in a situation in which he had questions on some of
the accounting matters. But it was close enough and he was concerned that he didnt have
enough evidence to support his reservations. He had only been with the company for
three months. Within the four months, the company had a major revenue shortfall. At that
time, he had made the decision not to try cover up the revenue shortfall. However, due to
they had not called it to the attention of analysts earlier, they lost the confidence of the
Street. At that point, he resigned and made a decision that if he ever again saw something
that was close, he would act much faster, like in this Electro Scientific Industries case.
d) Independent Board of Directors
Dooley was the only insider on the Board of Directors. There were a fair number of
independent directors. Besides that, he had prior relationship with two of the directors
Jerry Taylor who had worked with Okumoto for 25 years earlier at Fairchild and John

Tompkins who is the former CEO of KLA-Tencor. If Okumoto whistle blow the case, he
is expected to get support from these Board of Directors.
e) Personal safety and financially secured
For the financial aspect, he was financially in a position at that point of time where he
could afford to leave the job. He was single, so the only person he had to protect was
himself. Besides that, he also had a network of friends in that area (Portland) he felt he
could turn to for support.
f) Risks of inaction
He was concerned about his own legal liability if he did not take action. From the point of
the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, if he didnt fix the
problem, he would be part of the problem. He had potential legal risk.