Gm588 Johnson & Johnson Managing Quality

Introduction

Johnson & Johnson is a firm that does research and development as well as manufacture and sale of a broad range of products in the health care field. Johnson & Johnson is a publicly owned and traded company, their stock is a component of the S&P 500. Headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Johnson & Johnson has over 114,000 employees worldwide (Johnson & Johnson).

Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 by brothers Robert, James and Edward Johnson. Their first products were ready-to-use surgical dressings. In 1887 they introduced their signature product, Johnson’s Baby Powder. As the years went by they introduced many long lasting products to the American public including Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages, Neosporin, Listerine and most famously, Tylenol the brand name for an over-the-counter pain reliever known as acetaminophen. The company was family owned and operated until 1944 when it went public with an initial offering on the New York Stock Exchange (Funding Universe).

In 1982 Tylenol was considered the most successful over-the-counter product in the United States with over one hundred million users. Tylenol was responsible for 19 percent of Johnson & Johnson’s profits in the first three quarters of 1982. Additionally, Tylenol was the absolute leader in the painkiller field with a 37% market share (Harris).

In the fall of 1982 someone with unknown motive replaced the Tylenol capsules with cyanide laced capsules, resealed the packages and put them on store shelves in drug and grocery stores in the greater Chicago area. Seven innocent people died as a result of the tampered drugs. Johnson & Johnson ordered a nationwide recall of every capsule on store shelves and in warehouses. They then used the media and paid advertising to alert the public of the need to dispose of any Tylenol they may have in their homes. They established a hotline for concerned customers.

In the beginning the fact that the product had been tampered with...