Matel Toys

1) Identify the major stakeholders in the case and answer the question, “Who was responsible for what went wrong and why?”

The major stakeholders are their customers (retail stores), vendors, manufacturers, the government both in the US and China and all executives involved with Mattel production both in the US and China. The two stakeholders who were at fault for what went wrong were the Mattel executive team and the Chinese manufacturer. We feel that Mattel should have been more involved in the day to day operations of toy manufacturing. The Chinese manufacturer should have kept Mattel apprised with any changes in their daily operations. The Chinese manufacturer should have maintained to the specific rules and regulations agreed upon by both parties for selecting vendors to produce their toys.

2) What are the ethical issues in the case, and for whom?

Ethically Mattel should have notified the public as soon as they were aware of a potential issue. This involves all senior executives. Assuming the contract between Mattel and the Chinese Manufacturer stated there were specific standards for third party vendors, ethically the Chinese Manufacturer should have ensured those standards were maintained.

3) Do you think cross-cultural dynamics and misunderstandings played a role in the resulting problems in the case? Explain.

We believe cross-cultural dynamics and misunderstandings could have played a role in the problems in the case but it is the responsibility of Mattel to know about the dealings of the company they choose to partner with to manufacturing their product. This ensures the quality standards are maintained and removes risk.

4) Was there a “prodromal phase” in this case? If so, identify this stage and the event that explain it.

There was a prodromal phase. It is represented in this article on page 79, when on August 2, 2002 John Yang a NBC reporter, reported on a global recall by Fisher Price, the...