A toy company, Mattel, Inc. has very famous toys including Cabbage Patch Kids, Hot Wheels, American Girl, and Barbie. With some other famed brands like Scrabble, Tyco, Matchbox, Disney, and Fisher-Price, they are also involved. Furthermore, the organization is not only committed to the success of the business but has very high standards of ethics as well. They are strongly committed to making sure that every subcontractor and contractor is also committed to their standards and post before completing tasks. They determine that standards are not being followed by the firm; their contract will be terminated. Their style of management is tenor and strict. The principles of Mattel require every contract to follow laws of employment like working conditions, liberty of association, discrimination, forced labor, child labor, work hours, and wages. The consistent focus of the organization on high standards of ethics has played an important role in the success of Mattel. Following are some of the facts about Mattel, Inc.:

•       Mattel Company was started by Matt Matson and Elliot Handler in 1945.
•       Jill took responsibility as CEO of the company in 1997.
•       Company generate annual revenue of more than $5.9 billion   
•       In 2011 the company faced a legal issue of copyright as it is said that the company used fake business cards for the purpose to get entrance in the showrooms of their competitor company.  
•       The company pays attention to CSR. Therefore, they established a Mattel Children's Foundation in 1978.
•        The company conducted the first ethical audit in 1977.
•        Mattel’s core products are Cabbage Patch Kids, Hot Wheels, and Barbie and American Girl.
•       The company earned a reputation as one of the top 100 best companies in 2011.

In the case study, several products and brands of Mattel Company are discussed in detail to provide an overview of the business operations of the company. Somehow, the case study also represents the ethical and legal responsibilities for Mattel Company. In this assignment facts about Mattel Company are presented. Mattel Company has some special obligations such as producing products according to the cultural and ethical norms of the society. While some other special obligations are particularly related to the consumers and society are also discussed in this assignment.

Ethical Analysis of the Mattel Case

I do think that product manufacturers for kids or children have some specific and special obligations to society and customers. The well-being and safety of parents and children must be ensured by them. It is also significant to make sure that products don’t have any type of harmful parts and materials. Kids might face critical injuries if the products contain dangerous and harmful parts that will harm them or even result in their death. Therefore, if organizations are not worried about society and consumers, they are impacting the community in a negative way. Kids are the future of our society, and it is very critical for companies that are producing toys and products for children to have specific obligations.

Also, I also believe that the organization has performed very well in terms of encouraging legal and ethical operation by its producers and manufacturers. Corrective action has been taken by them immediately when problems emerged. For instance, when they discovered that lead paint was being used for creating products in China Mattel, their production was instantly terminated by them. They also identified that their sites of manufacturing were not using forced labor or child labor. Immediately, the firms were asked to alter their functions. If their operations were not changed then they were at high risk of having their contract with Mattel terminated. The company is also held responsible by Matter for the quality of protecting atmospheres, compliance, monitoring, evaluating, customs, and product safety. Therefore, if these standards are not met, they will attempt to resolve the issues or any type of contract will be terminated. After all, there are dissimilarities in legal systems and culture internationally, and it is tough to make ethical standards which are perfect. It can lead the company to ethical problems. I think that Mattel has also performed very well in monitoring the principles of Global Manufacturing. They could attempt to carry out their audits frequently instead of every three years. I also think that their approaches to accessing records should be extended. It is not enough to have access to every compliance standard using the virtual network or internet. These facilities should be visited by them for making sure that everything is being performed with efficiency and the standards of ethics which are required by Mattel.

I think that it would be better if Mattel is stricter with their policies related to subcontractors. The problem might never have existed if they had audited the organizations more and had more interaction. The organization should have concentrated more on their contractors in terms of the location of their materials. If minor details are being overlooked by them then firms will attempt to do everything possible to gain more profits by getting the lowest prices. When they do this, they might take a risk like negotiating with an organization who has used lead for tainting paint. If audits had been done by Mattel on their own and checked the materials before manufacturing, this situation would have been avoided. I don’t think that they were involved directly with the approval of using such type of paid, but they are accountable to know the location from where materials are extracted by their contractors.

Ethical Issues

Mattel in 1997 completed the development of a thorough code of conduct. It did not apply to the factories of Mattel, and it was attempted by Mattel to find ways for ensuring that their products were safe and efficient in terms of quality. Mattel which were made in China tested products. Lawrence & Weber (2011) tell that “Almost all their merchandise were checked in their laboratories.” These products were tested by them for ensuring that they were secure and people could purchase them. These toys were painted with the paint that contained lead in it according to the report. For Mattel, this wasn’t the right time to have something striking them this heavily. After all, they were selling toys to the public.

No doubt, these problems were serious and could have made the organization lose a large amount of money. As many kids and people buying the products of Mattel, they ought to have toys’ perennial remembers for reducing the trust of products of Mattel. Necessarily, this wasn’t the case as some toys produced in China were being tested and questioned. It was attempted by Mattel to check with the buyers to identify if the issues could be resolved and every possible move was made by them for ensuring the satisfaction of buyers with the toys.

It can be said that this initial issue began not with the products which were faulty but with more control given to Chinese subcontractors of Mattel in the process of assembly. When China started to produce products according to their standards with quality below quantity, cultural differences emerged. Mattel in 2007 recalled its products in millions due to the identification of small magnets and lead paint. A toddler had died two years earlier due to swallowing a tiny magnet that a Mattel toy contained (Weiss 2009). It causes the boycott of every Chinese product developed there and automatically, Mattel blamed China. Even though it was unjustified, a picture was painted by it that Chinese products were unsafe and had low quality. Additionally, it illustrated that Mattel was a lying organization other than being hypocritical as they claimed the wellbeing and safety of kids. Due to it, its reputation was tainted and suffered a decrement in sales.

Firms are prosecuted, monitored, and inspected by the CPSC that don’t wish to conform to the regulations which are provided by the CPSC. Chinese makers were blamed by Mattel. It wasn’t ethical at all. They didn’t succeed in precisely apprehending what to do once the issue emerged. On the website and TV, the chief executive officer wanted to apologize for what they did. Even compensation was even offered by them for the damages which were caused. Mattel should have made sure that standards were being met. Mattel’s standard management could have given the responsibility of testing to other organizations.

Furthermore, a big downside as that the performance of Mattel wasn’t good in terms of keeping track of their subcontractors, ensuring that everything was aligning well with the rules. They felt that they knew what was told to them and believed that it was a job worth putting efforts in. They came to identify that subcontractors weren’t using the paint which CPSC had approved.

Ethical Actions

Utilitarianism Theory Analysis: The projects or services which are being outsourced are the company’s Intellectual Property. The organization has the proper right to save this property. That is why the organization has to empower the precise strategy of planning on just what type of services must be outsourced and what services should be restrained. There will be risks of Identify Theft with the lack of good and eligible planning which will harm the organization. Oppositely, with precise planning, the firm can concentrate on ancillary outsourcing responsibilities, core services, and offering a good product in the end. The company and every user is benefitted with no one getting harmed this way (Driver, 2013). By offering good and eligible training to replacement workers, proper strategy before outsourcing, and good communication to every worker that is new then it will satisfy users with a product that is not only safe but has good quality as well. Therefore as per the Utilitarianism, safety and quality of the product are not compromised with outsourcing (Varela, 1999).

Social Contract Theory Analysis: Actually, the organization has the right to offer a product with good quality to the community. With a decrement in the caliber, the rational beings are not benefitted to the utmost. Therefore as per the theory of social contract, outsourcing drops the caliber and isn’t good (Levy & Slavin, 2014).

Kantian Theory Analysis: With a decrement in the safety and quality of the product that is outsourced, users and the community will be suffering. Overseas workers are used by the organization at cheaper rates for accomplishing the goal while the caliber drops. Foreign workers use as a source to a stop for the benefit of the company. Many previous employees are being laid off who used to work. They were treated with disrespect by the organization. Thus, outsourcing is not efficient (Levy & Slavin, 2014).

Conclusion/Decision-Making

In a nutshell, carrying out business internationally can be very tough due to their varying standards and cultures. Among firms, ethical issues can be caused by international businesses. They might have different ethical standards, cultures, and values. It is very significant to ensure when conducting business internationally to make sure that firms have a thorough understanding of the standards and expectations that they must follow.

Moreover, firms have to ensure that the audits are being carried out frequently by them for minimizing threats to a standard which they must follow. For an international business, it is critical to creating a code of conduct. It can quite be challenging, but it offers an infrastructure of efficient practices of business.it might be difficult of the parameters with the nations but it is actually a defense can evade unethical practices of businesses.

It might be thought that an organization like Mattel which has been creating toys overseas above fifty years, should know the outcomes outsourcing which is improper. By choosing to decrease costs even more and not involving in product manufacturing, it took a very big risk at the end. In the end, financial losses were suffered by them which hurt their reputation, and every other manufacturer in China along with the ones that had nothing to do with Mattel but outsourcing can be beneficial, decrease costs, and raise productivity if it is carried out with proper policies and ethical thinking.

Recommendation

By above analysis, the following are recommendations for Mattel Company:

·         Mattel Company produces and sells the product for children. Working in this industry is not easy. Organizations producing products for children have to work according to legal and ethical considerations. For instance, the company cannot produce such toys or products that are not appropriate for the children under the age of 18.

·         There are some obligations and responsibilities that companies have to take while working in this market segment. As toys selling the company, Mattel has to avoid the use of such material that can be harmful to the children. The company has to be careful about the use of such material or designs that are not appropriate for the physical and mental health of the children. For instance, a sharp knife of plastic or metal, arrows, and powerful toy guns can cause injury to the children while playing. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the company to avoid producing such endangering products and toys for children.

·         Moreover, toys such as bear and dolls produced with unwashed fabric can also cause health issues in children as immature children sometimes take toys in their mouth. It is reasonability of Mattel Company to manufacture safe products and toys for children.

·         The company has to take care of product quality and safety standards. While there are some ethical and social responsibilities also on which company cannot compromise to remain sustainable in the market. It is the responsibility of the company to provide privacy and security for customer data management.

·         The company operates in an international environment; therefore while manufacturing toys and products they need to take the cultural differences into considerations. It is the obligation of the company to produce such toys and products that promote harmony and unity in the society rather than spreading and supporting discriminative and stereotyping related ideas. For instance, while producing Dolls if the company will produce dolls with only fair complexions then it is caused to hurt the feelings of black people living in that targeted market.

·         As an international toys manufacturing company Mattel Company should design and produce for all type of audience without discrimination. While they also have to take care of the other ethical issues as copyright or use of negative ways to get an advantage. In the past, the company tried to take advantage by getting information about the products of their competitor company that resulted in legal consequences. The company should try to avoid such situations in the future to get a reputation in society.

·         Organizations that choose to outsource jobs must think about taking many proactive measures for ensuring the ethical standard. A thorough search should always be conducted by them when getting a subcontractor which should involve checking its competencies, past projects, references, and most significantly, the code of ethics, or inflict their standards of organizations on to the vendor’s work. By choosing the eligible subcontractor, the organization must conduct audits which are periodical on the performed work, as well as the conditions of working on other policies.

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