As a consultant for Toys, Inc., I have been called in for my advice by the company’s president, Marybeth Corbella; on which of the two proposed options would be best for the company and for the customers as well. Toys, Inc. is a 20-year-old company that produces toys and board games, our company has a reputation built on quality and innovation. Although we have been the market leader in our field, the sales have become stagnant in recent years, and sales have begun to decline when comparing them to the sales in the past. With the company’s managers attributing the decline of sales on the economy, the company was forced to reduce production costs and layoffs in the design and product development departments; this action will hopefully increase …show more content…
Top managers should be reminded that they are ultimately responsible for the quality of a product and the company. Quality management is one of the keys. By defining quality in operational terms, understanding the costs and benefits of quality, recognizing the consequences of poor quality, and recognizing the need for ethical behavior (Stevenson, 2012), will lead to a more productive operation. If Toys, Inc. specifically doesn’t want to hire additional positions to inspect quality they could outsource to a company such as SATRA whom from its website states, “SATRA can assess the risk of injury from a toy, as well as carry out analysis for the presence of restricted metals such as lead, chromium and mercury(2015).” Quality is the ability of a product or service to consistently meet or exceed customer expectations (Stevenson, 2012). Quality when it comes to manufacturing of toys especially those that have moving parts also brings in safety concerns. “Market watch officials and technological experts have warned parents to pay more attention to the quality of toys they purchase to better protect their children (Hazell, C 2011).” Parents will associate a poorly made toy, especially one that already knows that it’s poorly made by having a trade-in program as potentially dangerous for their son or daughter. Continuing to have customer dissatisfaction will further question the quality of our product and in turn the safety of our
The two primary stakeholders are the company’s customers and employees/suppliers who are directly involving in the company’s business. The two secondary stakeholders who do not engage directly with the business are the general public and environmental activist groups.
. G. Toys is a leading supplier of high quality dolls that are manufactured in two plants within Illinois, one in Chicago, one in Springfield. These dolls are sold in retailors throughout the United States and have an established, loyal customer base due to their high quality and popularity (Campbell & Kulp, 2004). In the last few years, due to rising production costs, their most popular doll, Geoffrey, has seen a decrease in profit margin. In this evaluation we plan to address G.G. Toys existing cost system and offer recommendations on whether management should change the costing system in both the Chicago and Springfield plant. We will calculate the costs of the Geoffrey doll, the specialty branded doll #106 and the cradles using the cost
This case present a conflict between Macy’s and MSLO after developing a strategic partnership. Macy’s Inc. is one of the nation’s premier omnichannel retailers. The company operates about 885 stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Outlet and Bluemercury, as well as the macys.com, bloomingdales.com and bluemercury.com websites. Due to the high competition in retailing business Macy’s implemented in 2012 three-pronged business strategy to increase their sales and maintain their position in the market. This strategy was to enable Macy’s to reach both online and in store customers and provide them with a unique choice of merchandises.
The Walt Disney Company is a highly diversified media and entertainment company that has been growing by leaps and bounds since its inception in the late 1920’s. In the past few decades, The Walt Disney Company has expanded into numerous markets and diversified its business greatly. The company states that their corporate strategy is targeted at creating high-quality family content, exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and expanding internationally. Upon studying the happenings of the company throughout the years, it is easy to see that the company is executing this strategy well through numerous strategic moves in the industry.
There are many powers that can be effective in establishing an ethical climate. The power that I think would be most effective for Paradigm Toys is referent power. Referent power is described as power of an individual over their employees because of the respect the employees have for them (Randall, 2012). A manager who has referent power will have the trust and respect from their employees which will in turn demonstrate to the employee how they should behave and what ethical behavior looks like. The referent manager will demonstrate the proper ethical behaviors and employees will learn from that and imitate their managers.
To begin with, toy stores play significant row when it comes to the gender socialization process in children. I recently visited a Toys R Us in a shopping center near downtown Redwood City. Although It is located on the east side of Redwood City the shopping center is fairly neat and seems to have a wide variety of shoppers. The store was rather big and neatly organized. The front of the store for the most part was gender neutral. It was easy to navigate through the story and find the girls and boys toys. For the most part, boys toys were in blue boxes, while girls toys were in predominantly pink boxes. On the one hand, the boys sections were dominated by darker colors like blue, yellow, and black. On the other hand, girls sections were lighter
In 2007, the international toy manufacturer, Mattel, Inc. issued several recalls for millions of their products. These recalls were for safety reasons in that testing at the manufacturing sites and special test laboratories showed that millions of their toys were coated with dangerous amounts of lead in the paint. This lead based paint contains a potent neurotoxin that if ingested can cause serious harm to children. Mattel assured the public that the problem would be solved, the recalled products would be collected and replaced, and that the company would never let this type of incident happen again.
It is evident that Mattels core focus has changed considerably- especially when compared to their focus prior to the first recall. It is evident that Mattel now focuses its attention on doing the right thing for “regulators, retailers, customers and suppliers ahead of damage control or profits.” (Hurley, 2012) In doing so Mattel has built credibility around its supply chain risk management capabilities and regained the trust of the general public as well as that of other stakeholders. (Deschene, 2007)
Toy Story is the groundbreaking 1995 motion picture developed by Disney and Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The film was so revolutionary not only because it was the first feature length animation to be created completely by CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) but also, also the film was more rounded in all respects. The characters not only looked more sophisticated and three-dimensional but their personalities were also more human and fewer cartoons like. The film uses a constructed text in order to put across a theme of two very different characters learning to work together beyond their rivalries to rise above a common enemy and work towards a common goal. The film uses characters and imagery very cleverly to portray this theme. The music used in the film is also different to other Disney features. Rather than the characters bursting into song themselves as in Aladdin or Hercules, the songs are played and sung by an outside person (Randy Newman) and reflect the mood and emotions of the characters in a particular scene. For example, the title sequence song “Friend in Me”, when Woody and Andy are playing together, and the scene where Andy’s room has been made over to a Buzz Lightyear theme, “Strange Things” where the song reflects Woody’s confusion and fear not only about the change in his surroundings but also the change in his friends and his own character and self-confidence. The attention to the smallest detail for example the reflections in Buzz’s visor give the film even more realism and depth. The use of unusual and imaginative camera angles, made possible by the use of CGI, also adds to the texture and pace of the film.
... in the toy industry is to make toy safety the number one priority and to fulfill the customers’ needs.
When I started on this paper I figured all the information I would find out is knowledge I would already know of on this subject, but then I actually found out more new information than I already knew. One day in late November Hayden and I were joking around with Evan and he said a very interesting thing that I will never have guessed he would ever say again. He said, “I just got out of the hospital” we asked why and he said, “Because of my depression.” I never knew even had struggled with depression until he told us he did. So I had to find out if the over use of video games led to his depression. The first question I asked him was when did you first start playing video games, and he answered, “I started playing video games when I was in kindergarten it was on my Nintendo 64 playing Frogger. I asked him besides sleeping and at school at what percentage do you play video games he replied, “65%.” I also went on to ask him if he knew that playing to many video games leads to aggression and depression and if he thought this is why he has been diagnosed with depression. He answered yes to both of these questions. Because of this story it made me think, does certain toys create problems in a child’s future development?
Organizational change is the altering of organizational structures and business strategy. As consumer preferences change, competition increases, and the economic environment fluctuates, business need to adapt to these changes to remain competitive. The management of Home Plus, a regional discount store, has proposed an increase of high-end products and a significant reduction in discount packaged goods. This is a change from the original business strategy in which the primary offerings were discount products. Before implementing the proposed strategy, Home Plus management must consider the benefits of the change and the consequences that may occur. As a member of the management team at Home Plus I disagree with the proposal to increase high-end
In the episode, “Toy Company”, of the show “Nathan for You”, the toymaker has been presented with an idea to get more of his unpopular toy sold. The idea is to get more kids to buy the toys by proving that owning the toy won’t make them babies. Here we will discuss how the issue relates to business ethics by explaining it from a deontologist, utilitarian and a virtue ethicist’s point of view.
Jack McClintock, president and part owner of the company, is considering a proposal to adopt a monthly production level for the coming year. Main Issues: What is the ' The two principal issues that have to be analyzed are: . 1.Should Toy World change from seasonal production to monthly production? The first problem that has to be analyzed is if they have to adopt a policy of level monthly production, or if they have to continue with seasonal production. It has to be studied what are the opportunities and the risks for the company if they adopt the change.
It is imperative that company management address current sales decline in an open, inclusive and constructive manner. In order to do this, it is critical that the company adopt the recommended problem solving strategy. This will assist management in clearly defining the problem, getting a broad source of productive solutions, create a plan to implement the remedy and evaluation process to ensure success.