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Mattel and the toy recall case study
Mattel and Toy Safety final paper
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What does the phrase toy safety mean? What are the aspects of the toy safety? Toy safety is ensuring that toys are safe for children according to specific safety standards. Therefore, before manufactures sell their toys to the public, the toys must pass safety tests to prevent injuries. For instance, from a consumer perspective, when choosing toys for their children, there are certain characteristics to observe such as, buying toys large enough to avoid choking, making sure toys like stuff animals seams are reinforced, and checking if any paint is peeling. Unfortunately, there have been times when certain toy products are recalled due to safety issues. This is why toy safety should be the manufacturers’ top priority and must comply with specific safety regulations. Although toy safety concerns continue to occur, toy testing is an essential step for improvements and for satisfying the consumers’ needs, which should be every toy firm’s main goal
Our week five case study, Mattel and Toy Safety, involves toy safety inspection and product recall concerns among outside contractors. In 2007, the infamous toy company, Mattel, recalled a very large number of toy products covered with lead-based paint that were manufactured in China. Mattel responded to the massive toy recall by increasing the testing of all products and reassuring its customers that they will take affirmative action to correct the recall issues as soon possible. In my opinion, I believe Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner regarding the safety of it toys because as soon as Mattel was aware of a European merchant finding lead paint on their toy products, Mattel conducted an immediate investigation.
I think one addition step Mattel could h...
... middle of paper ...
... in the toy industry is to make toy safety the number one priority and to fulfill the customers’ needs.
Works Cited
Consumers Union (2011). Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/aboutus/mission/overview/index.htm
Council of Better Business Bureaus (2011). Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.bbb.org/us/BBB-Mission/
HubPages Inc.,( 2011). Retrieved October 13, 2011, from http://maryeaudet.hubpages.com/hub/Chinese-Toy-Recalls
Lawrence, A. T. & Weber, J. (2011). Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy (13th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (2011). Retrieved October 16, 2011, from http://www.astratoy.org/astra-toy-industry-safety-statement.asp
Toy Industries of Europe (2011). Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.tietoy.org/index.php/home/page/58
Jennings, M. (2012). Business: Its ethical, legal, and global environment. (9th Ed.) Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning ISBN: 978-0538470544
Jennings, Marianne M. Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley.
By law, product manufacturers are responsible to give a reasonable warning when the product they manufacture poses a foreseeable risk of injury or harm. Courts use the following factors to consider a manufacturer's duty to warn: "the magnitude or severity of the likely harm, the ...
In 2012, C. Auster and C. Mansbach completed a content analysis on the Disney Toy Store website to evaluate what kind of toys are available to children and what is considered when categorizing a toy as a girl toy versus a boy toy. The researchers analysis was based on the color of the toy and whether it was labeled as "for boys" or "for girls". The data represented the idea that toy companies expect girls to choose a mixture of both feminine-centric and gender-neutral toys and expect boys to primarily play with masculine-centric toys, as the toys “For Girls” were an equal mix of girl (pastel) colors and gender-neutral colors and “For Boys” toys were primarily boy (bold) colors. Along with the colors, 44% of the toys under “For Girls” were also
Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2011). Managing business ethics - straight talk about how to
Investigation of contemporary issues related to the safety, health and well being of young children.
In the contents of this case there are several management and safety issues and areas for improvement. One issue is Mattel, Inc.’s responsibility to its stakeholders; to its customers, to its stockholders, to its employees, and to its suppliers. The responsibility to Mattel’s customers is that of producing and selling safe products. Along with the recall on the lead coated toys there were also toys that contained small, but powerful magnets that if swallowed could attract each other and cause serious or fatal intestinal perforation or blockage. These defects were not discovered during the testing of the products. Before this incident occurred Mattel, Inc. was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most trustworthy U.S. companies. Too this, Mattel did everything they could to assure that they were doing everything possible to handle and correct this problem. For Mattel’s stockholders, the company had to make sure that the image and reputation was saved and redeemed as soon as possible. With such a massive and extensive recall of potentially hazardous products, that was designed to be safe for children, the stock prices and e...
Children in general need to be safe and in addition to that their toys need to match their ages, especially their stages of development as well as their abilities. A lot of those safe further more appropriate playing materials for the children are free items which are typically found at home. There are those playing material which can be used in one way or the other by the children of various age groups. these could be playing materials such as plastic bowls, Cardboard boxes, lids, a collection of plastic, bottle caps, in addition to other treasures. In this case there is a website which offers suggested toys for children of different ages and in going through the website one of the main things which is supposed to be kept in mind is that each and every child develops at his or her own pace. There is a list of items which children can use for playing. The list comprises of a good choice for children with different ages that is the younger as well as the older then the suggested age range. This article majors generally on those toys for young infants that is from birth to the age of six months though mostly three and four months of age. At this stage babies like to stare at people and following them with the eyes. In general, it is at this age limits that they prefer faces as well as bright colors (Goldfield, 1987). Babies can get in touch with, can be fascinated with that which their hands as well as their feet can do, they can lift their heads, turn their it in the direction of the sounds, they put various things they come across in their mouths, and many more. They recommended good toys for young infants as well as children of different ages which are recommended have got to be
Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Is "The Social Responsibility of Business... to Increase Its Profits"? Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory. Honest work: a business ethics reader (pp. 217-253). New York: Oxford University Press.
Large businesses and corporations have a huge impact on today’s society. These large businesses provide jobs, products, and services to the public and have a great influence in our community. In fact, it can even be said that some companies such as Google have a greater influence in our society over government or even church. Many of these large companies have a social responsibility, whether one realizes it or not. These responsibilities include protecting the rights of its stakeholders and making ethical business decisions. These ethical decisions can be based on ethical norms such as rights and duties, justice, as well as utilitarianism (1). Unfortunately, not all businesses follow these ethical norms. However, in 2013 Forbes magazine
Mattel Corporation, known as the largest toy company in the world, is a publicly traded organization with a market capitalization of over $6.5 billion. Employing approximately 36,000 people worldwide in 43 countries, their products are well-known and sold in over 150 nations (Mattel.com). With such winning odds as mentioned, it is hard to imagine that a company readily known to children and adults across the globe would become even better known for the company that produced toys made with lead-based products. This assignment will discuss whether or not Mattel acted in an ethical and socially responsible manner in their decision to recall defective toys, what they perhaps could have done differently to avoid this issue, and the best way society can continue to protect children from potentially harmful toys.
Norman, W., & MacDonald, C. (2004). Getting to the bottom of the "triple bottom line". Business Ethics Quarterly, 14(2), 243-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200414211
Toyota issues in automotive industry resulted from a lack of moral and ethical obligations to loyal customers. In fact, people encounter ethics at one time or another. A business expectation is to act in manner upholding society values. According to authors Trevino and Nelson, (2004) states, “a set of moral principals or values, or the principals, norm, and standards of conduct governing a group or individual.” On the other hand, three ethical criteria determined in this discussion like obligation, moral ideas, and consequences which this article highlights an ethical dilemma with automobiles makers.
Carroll, A. B. (1996). Business & Society: Ethics and stakeholders management. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing.