The Luman and Absorb Teams at Crutchfield Chemical Engineering Case Study

1. Did Zwahlen terminate relations with existing carpet suppliers too quickly?

When Charles Veillon Listening to the radio, Jacques Zwahlen heard news that led him to believe that a new venture designed to lift his company like a magic carpet might also have the potential for a crash landing. Mr. Zwahlen's company, Veillon S.A., one of Switzerland's largest mail order houses, had just added Oriental rugs to its selection of clothing and home textiles. The news was how Ikea, the huge Swedish chain, was pilloried in the Swedish press for selling carpets from child labor. The top management team at Charles Veillon, a Swiss mail-order company, is considering whether to work with a human rights organization to monitor the labor practices of its suppliers. A particular concern is avoiding child labor and other forms of workplace coercion.

Determined to find a different approach, Mr. Zwahlen consulted with child labor experts at the International Labor Organization, which is based in nearby Geneva, and formulated a list of conditions that his suppliers in developing countries would have to accept before Veillon would buy their carpets. Among them, Veillon demanded to know the addresses of manufacturing sites, and the right to visit them unannounced; Veillon required assurances that laborers were not forced to work, that they suffered no injury from the work, and that they were able to leave the workshop premises when their day's labor was done.

At first, Veillon's rug buyers feared frightening off middlemen and suppliers. Indeed, some wholesale suppliers became aggressive, and only one of four suppliers in Switzerland ultimately accepted the conditions. The others were dropped, and Mr. Zwahlen stuck to his guns. Perhaps Mr. Zwahlen was a little rash with his decisions, but I think the pressure to respond to the allegations, left him with no other choice but to enforce some kind of rules.

2. To what extent if any is the use of child labor and other supplier practices...