To be completely honest, I do believe that Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner with regard to the safety of its toys. I believe that they did for many reasons. For one, Mattel wasn’t trying to hide anything. All of their investigations for up for public record. A company that is doing wrong, that knows they’re doing wrong are more likely to keep it a secret, or try to make it appear as something different. Second, they had a code of conduct. They had standards that were supposed to be followed. The standards were very clear and well laid out. Even though most stands applied to labor, they also had a distinct list of companies that could be used for paint, which were tested and approved. Mattel hired a professor, an …show more content…
In fact, each group involved has a different view on how this should be handled. For example, government regulators believe that people should stick to the plan and they should be enforced to do so. For example, in China, you cannot use paint that contains more than 90 parts per million of led. Which sounds awesome, considering the U.S is 600 parts per million. Unfortunately, China doesn’t enforce that rule. All a consumer has to say is, I can’t afford lead free paint, so I will use lead paint instead. Lead paint is 30% cheaper than lead free paint, which causes the issue. If government regulators could do a better job at enforcing the rules, than that would help a lot. Next the consumers’ union view to improve safety is children’s toys is for Congress to set a goal of funding the CPSC to reach at least 700-plus employees as opposed to their 300. When the CPSC first started, they have 900 or so employees, consumers want to get back to that to ensure they have the resources to do what they are supposed to. Something they also suggested, which I definitely agree with, was to hold suppliers, importers, and distributors, as well as manufactures, responsible bringing unsafe toys to children. The toy industries suggest that other parts of the world, follow the US standards when making toys. The standards in the U.S. is actually rated in the top 100 of standards, and is used as a primary source of how to do …show more content…
No more taking short cuts, no more trying to save money. From now on, everyone needs to do what they are expected to do, and follow the codes. I agree that training videos should be distributed and outlined clearly so everyone knows exactly was is expected of them. In return, the people that are hired to do their specific job should follow those codes. To ensure they are being followed, an outside person should be sent to check in more than once every three years. Also, people should be funded with more money and not feel pressured to take the short cut. Just like in our last case study, it might lost profit for you at first to do the ethical thing, in the long wrong, you will be more profitable. People are not going to want to shop with a company or buy a brand that is doing unethical things, causing recalls to happen. A lot of people have stopped buying Mattel because of the short cuts taken which caused lead paint to be an issue for their child’s toys. Do things the right way the first time, keep your reputation in check, spend the extra money, and in return, you will earn the profit you had hoped