Mattel Recall Mattel Competes in Case Study

Mattel understands that for its customers and retailers, there is nothing worse, ethically, than putting profit over the health of children. It would appear that Lee Der did not share these values. Thus, part of the problem lies with communication of values between Mattel and its suppliers. The suppliers need to understand that they need to work to the same ethical standards as Mattel, since it is Mattel's name that is going on the product. Mattel needs to hold the management of all of its suppliers accountable for both understanding and adhering to the quality standards that Mattel sets out.

There are a number of different things that Mattel can learn from this experience. The first is that the chain of control runs right through the entire value chain.Every part of the value chain can either add or detract value from the process. Mattel needs to understand this, and take action accordingly. This means ensuring that the third-party companies are an extension of Mattel in their ethics, their approach to business, and in the testing that they do. All of these things must be controlled more closely by Mattel in order to reduce the risk in the future that a supplier would make such a mistake as Lee Der did with the lead paint.

Works Cited:

QuickMBA. (2010). The value chain. QuickMBA. Retrieved July 2, 2013 from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/value-chain/

Bapuji, H. & Beamish, P. (2009). Mattel and the toy recalls. Ivey School of Business. In possession of the author......