Mattel and Toy Safety free essay sample

Case Analysis: Mattel and Toy Safety Introduction Mattel Corporation is the largest toy company in the world, a publicly traded organization with a market capitalization of over $6. 5 billion, employing approximately 36,000 people worldwide in 42 countries. Their products are sold in 150 nations (mattel. com). In the summer of 2007, Mattel suffered a major product recall incident. The first recall was the result of vendor failure in China where traces of lead paint were discovered on 83 different products. This led to a recall of 1. 5 million items worldwide. The products contained levels of lead paint that failed the products’ specification. Mattel even announced that a significant portion of the toys were recalled because of a design flaw and not substandard manufacturing. During this crisis, Mattel contacted their chief suppliers and asked them to pull the recalled products from the shelf. One of Mattel’s contract manufacturers in China bankrupted because of the recall issue, and the plant owner committed suicide. We will write a custom essay sample on Mattel and Toy Safety or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In contrast, Mattel restricted the damage to its reputation to a bare minimum with effective public relations methods. Mattel also established a new corporate responsibility organization, and its crisis management methods gave the company maximum protection from the crisis. Question 1 Do you believe that Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner with regard to the safety of its toys? Why or why not? What should or could Mattel have done differently, if anything? I believe that Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner regarding the safety issue in 2007. According to the case study and given factors, Mattel has always held a reputation of being a good corporate citizen. By that, we should understand that Mattel has always been recognized as a corporation with strong social, cultural and environmental responsibilities to the community. In fact, Mattel has proved to be concerned about safety issues and USA standard regulations for its products. As described in the case study, after learning about the problem, Mattel Inc. made some improvements to their Global Manufacturing Principle (a detailed code of conduct made to cover both Mattel’s factories and those of its contractors and suppliers) to ensure product quality and safety in accordance with the regulations and standards criteria in the USA. To the society, the company is not using any child labor or forced labor. The company stated that it does not tolerate discrimination. The employees should be hired according to their ability to complete the job, not their beliefs or characteristics. The company also began a special investigation, and two weeks later called the first of three recalls on different products. In other words, the company acknowledged the issues and corrected those by recalling the harmful products and enhancing society as well as forgoing profits by doing so. Mattels product safety issue undermines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue in three perspectives: quality control, not acting beyond complaints, and disclosure of information. Therefore, I strongly believe that Mattel Corporation has acted in order to preserve the ethical principles where preservation and continuation of organized life is a must. Question 2 Who or what do you believe was responsible for the fact that children were exposed to potentially dangerous toys? In the case of Mattel, the company and its Chinese subcontractors should have simultaneously and corporately examined the product quality. However, people know that toys with extra lead and non-standardized magnetic batteries are under the brand name of Mattel, not that of the small Chinese contractors. However, in the end, in my opinion, both Mattel Corporation and government play a big role in responsibility for the fact that children were exposed to potentially dangerous toys. The primary concern of a corporate citizen, which Mattel is known as, is to provide safe products to their final customer: children. If a company fails to deliver safe products to their customer, government has to act and in a timely manner to avoid harmful toys being sold in the USA in compliance with American regulations. In my opinion, government and company are both guilty for the danger of the toys made in China, even knowing that the contractor in China was responsible for exposing children to a high level of lead in the paint of the toys. It should be a primary concern of a corporate citizen and government to protect their populations against imported products which disrespect the local regulations where products are sold. Question 3 What is the best way to ensure the safety of children’s toys? In responding, please consider how the following groups would answer this question: government regulators (In USA and China); consumer advocates; the toy industry; children’s products retailers; and standard-setting organizations. What might explain the differences in their points of view? It is everyone’s responsibility to protect children from unsafe toys. Under federal law, manufacturers must report all claims of potentially hazardous product defects within 24 hours. Because of these alleged unsafe practices, manufacturers are scrambling to ensure public confidence in the safety of their toys that are made in the United States and, of course, those made in China. Because of this, Chinas product chief should assure that the toys made in their laboratories will be safer, better and more appealing. On the other hand, the Toy Industry Association should work with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to find new regulations that require more stringent safety checks. The CPSC has granted Mattels request to use their own labs for testing as long as they are under federal law to recall any items contaminated by lead. Most importantly, parents shouldnt assume that toys are necessarily safe just because these new regulations are in place. In order to minimize any risk of injury, parents should be educated on the hazards of recalled toys as some may still be on shelves of toy stores. The best way to ensure the safety of children’s toys would be for Mattel to make safety its number one priority by creating and producing toys that will not harm children. Additionally and most importantly, they have to establish trust in their products for consumers by employing strict standards from product design to manufacture up to distribution of their products. In order for the stakeholders to ensure the society that their products are safe for children, they have to apply internal operating procedures that are designed to meet or exceed regulation compliance or laws that are enforced by the U. S. CPSC and regulatory counterparts around the world. In addition, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have legal responsibility for making sure they do not sell dangerous toys. However, safety standards and regulations cannot cover every situation, and among the thousands of toys entering the marketplace each year, some unsafe toys are likely to reach the consumer. Careful toy selection and proper supervision of children is still and always will be the best way to protect children from toy-related injuries. The difference in each point of view is [the occupation of each group play a role in concerning about children safety? . Although stakeholders, the toy industry, and children’s product retailers need to act ethically and responsibly, the final interest of this group is to make and/or increase their profit. Parents want the best for their children, and the final interest is safety as well as the health of their little ones. Government plays a big role in between companies [Is and parents because, through their laws, par ents can be protected from harmful toys, and companies need to respect legislation in order to show society that they are a citizen company. But the final interest of government legislation is to secure order, health, and safety to their community but also to make sure that companies are still in good and healthy shape. Question 4 What do you think is the best way for society to protect children from harmful toys? Specifically, what are the appropriate roles for various stakeholders in this process? Children are our future and, as a society, it is our responsibility to protect their health. Unfortunately, manufacturers are not required to disclose their use of many toxic chemicals present in children’s products, preventing consumers from differentiating between a contaminated product and a safe product. I believe that, as a society, we should push the government to create stronger laws and requirements as well as to disclose all important information that we need to know before buying kids’ products in order to assure protection to our children from harmful toys. I believe that the appropriate role for various stakeholders is to have in mind that safety in kids Industry is a priority. So, while the implications of any recall may have negative effects on these parties in the short run acting with morality and seeking compliance with regulations and society rules as well as acting when a problem first arrives is the best way to minimize these implications in the long run. They should not wait any longer to communicate with society or make a necessary recall because the reputational implications may be worse. Also, the stakeholders’ final interest should be not only increase of profit but increase of profit through moral and respectful corporate citizenship which is regulated by government laws and society’s expectations. Conclusion In conclusion, my advice to Mattel in order to rebuild trust with its consumers and internal audiences is to maintain the standards and establish oversight committees to monitor and inspect products. In addition, Mattel needs to make sure that such recalls will not happen in the future because such a thing will make customers lose faith in the company. Therefore, Mattel must be committed to working with the Chinese government and manufacturers to promote and improve the safety of toys and other consumer products. Safety of toys is a matter of critical importance to society and parents, whether they are made in China or elsewhere around the world. Finally, Mattel should focus on working closely with its Chinese suppliers and government agencies operating within the toy industry trying to bring realistic quality control solutions for which it can be held accountable. Regaining consumer confidence and controlling the dissemination of product safety information requires strong corporate communicators who can delicately and deliberately balance supplier, customer, governmental, media, and investor relationships.