Cadbury an Ethical Company Struggles to Insure the Integrity of Its Supply Chain

Chocolate was previously considered a “delectable symbol of luxury, wealth, and power” (Klein) in the 1500s. Using modern technology, it is now easily produced. While

The premium chocolate industry is a large market in the United States and continues to grow around 10% annually. It is also populated with very strong

There is a high bargaining power of suppliers because of the need of the key ingredients required for chocolate manufacturing and limited number of suppliers for this industry. Since cocoa trees require tropical climate, it forces the main producers in the west to import them from countries in West Africa or other hot places

While Europe and the United States account for most chocolate consumption, the confection is growing in popularity in Asia and market forecasts are optimistic about the prospects in China and India (Nieburg, 2013, para 9). According to the CNN Freedom Project, the chocolate industry rakes in $83 billion a year, surpassing the Gross Domestic Product of over a hundred nations (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 3).

It focuses on the craft of premium chocolate making from cocoa beans sourced from manors around the globe. Cooking procedures are innovative. Production line groups use fastidious artisan abilities to make chocolates that

(Transition: The history of Hershey’s chocolate laid the foundation for the many different types of chocolate eaten today.

In addition to the personal preference of taste and quality, Rogers’ Chocolates also has to be aware of the current political stances of their customers. This is shown in the case by the human rights concerns expressed by customers. These views held by their customers have changed, and will continue to change, over time.

Moreover, consumers and employees are also demanding chocolate companies to follow good corporate social responsibility practices in addressing the environmental concerns in terms of how to design its packaging, procurement and operational decisions. Human rights concerns are also high in terms of consumer expectations of chocolate companies with respect of forced child labour in West Africa. All of these driving forces - societal concerns, attitudes and change in lifestyles, are strong enough to shape up the competition and impose the constraint on chocolate industry profitability and competitive survival.

Hershey has bought and produced tons of chocolate for over 50 years that has had the blood, sweat and tears of the not only the children on the Ivory Coast, but the adults as well. The way that Hershey has been able to sell to their consumers with very low prices on all their products is because they buy from the cocoa farms that have child slaves. Many of which were taken from their homes, sold or needed to provide for their families. They would come work for cocoa farmers and get paid little to nothing. Children who work on the Ivory Coast usually are between ages 12 and 16,

Allison, M. (2013). Fair-trade theo chocolate fairly booming. The Seattle Times, par. 4. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020664110_theochocolatexml.html(2013). Fair-trade theo chocolate fairly booming. The Seattle Times, par.25. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020664110_theochocolatexml.htmlBrake, L. (2011). Theo chocolate - the ultimate in green chocolate. Earth Times, par. 2. Retrieved from http://www.earthtimes.org/green-

“The Dark Side of Chocolate” is a documentary that explores the underlying issues prevalent in the cocoa trade. For most first world countries chocolate is seen as an accessible treat, however in third world countries, the production of cocoa creates social issues that must be eliminated. Cocoa trade is one of the largest industries in West African countries, but the issues that arise from such trade do more harm than good. The cocoa plantations are trafficking humans to work on their plantations. Furthermore, most instances suggest that these workers do not receive any compensation for their work and most importantly some of these slave laborers are children. Thus, the three issues that the cocoa companies routinely commit in exchange for lower costs are human trafficking, slave labor, and child labor. These companies are aware of such issues but refuse to actively combat them because they are better off financially. It can be argued that these issues can be mitigated through various social, governmental and political policies aimed at combating these problems. The three main issues will be addressed and the various stakeholders affected by these issues will be analyzed. Then this paper will look at the possible solutions to these issues, whereby through government, social or political means.

“Dark, earthy, natural, intense.” These four words can be used to describe almost any aspect of Pana Chocolate’s range of raw, organic, handmade chocolate bars. The brand, founded in Melbourne, offers a range of chocolates available in the health food section at supermarkets that appeal to a range of consumers needs, being ethically produced, raw, organic, dairy, soy, egg and refined sugar free, vegan, and made from all natural ingredients (Pana Chocolate, 2017). Priced at $7.95 on their website (http://www.panachocolate.com), they are on the higher-end scale of the standard chocolate market, however the product oozes luxury throughout and lives up to it’s higher price point. This report will focus on the marketing implications of the packaging design choices made by Pana Chocolate in regards to this range of products.

From the standpoint of the original Hershey milk chocolate bar, Milton Hershey is the original creator of developing an efficient chocolate manufacturing process during the late 1800s. Milton Hershey developed a method to produce chocolate that tasted delicious, could be created in bulk, and sold to consumers at competitively affordable price. This process begins with obtaining ingredients used to create a chocolate base. Though Hershey’s main factory is in Pennsylvania, the cacao bean is the main ingredient used that needs to be imported outside of the United States. The cacao beans from cacao trees only thrive in tropical climates. These trees grow in tropical rain forests of Brazil and Indonesia. Once the trees produce a significant amount of cacao beans, Hershey hires farmers to pick the cacao beans off of trees. When

Chocolate became “a respected scholarly subject” only in recent decades suffering from “puritanical prohibitions” of discussing food or writing about it that were recognized standards of behavior in the Western world. The reviewed book The True History of Chocolate is a valuable addition to what the public knows or, rather, does not know about chocolate, with an interesting historical background that makes an entertaining and useful reading and extends one’s knowledge of things we use daily, sometimes without realizing their long history of evolution and multiple meanings.

The natural environment involves Cocoa beans that are needed by Whittaker’s to produce their chocolate products. Over the next few years, the world is expected to face a chocolate ‘drought’, leading to soaring prices of cocoa beans due to insufficient consumable cocoa to chocolate manufacturers. (Western farm press, 2011)