1. Identification of Case Issues
Mars chocolate is one of the worlds leading chocolate manufacturers and employs more than 13,000 people across 110 sites worldwide. As market leaders in their industry, Mars is constantly in the spotlight. Being responsible in the way they conduct business is part of the reason they are in the highly regarded position that they are in today. The sourcing of cocoa however is currently one the greatest ethical dilemma’s facing not only Mars, but all chocolate companies all over the world.
The importance of international marketing ethics across cultures has been noted by a number of authors (Fletcher & Crawford, 2011; Armstrong & Sweeney, 1994; Singhapakdi, Rawwas, Marta & Ismail, 1999). For
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“The issue of slave labour is not merely one that requires unilateral action… international actors such as foreign governments, NGOs, civil society participants, as well as other actors implicated either in supplying the labour or consuming its products are (needed) to help address the problem” (Chanthavong, 2002). When it comes to how Mars can help solve this issue, they must continue to finance and support cooperative efforts with both governments and nongovernmental organizations. Such efforts include the ‘International Cocoa Initiative’, an initiative working throughout the Ivory Coast with a “goal of totally eliminating child labour in cocoa” (Peter McAllister, BBC interview); and the ‘The World Cocoa Foundation’, an initiative “helping to achieve cocoa sustainability, supporting cocoa communities, education, field programs and scientific research” (World Cocoa Foundation, 2012). Mars must continue to build partnerships to address this issue, but ultimately, making progress in eradicating this issue completely requires the support, cooperation and commitment of the governments of cocoa producing countries, the cocoa farmers and others from within the cocoa community (Mars, 2012).
If an organization is to survive and flourish in a global economy, the firm must understand the values and behaviours of each diverse group of consumers they serve, and Japan is no exception (Erffmeyer, 1999). According to Erffmeyer (1999), there has been a recent
I researched Metropolis Coffee Company and the sourcing process that their beans took to get into their shop. In this case, the coffee beans were sourced from countries across South America and Africa. This exercise displayed how we directly influence other people in society through our consumerism. More so, this exercise raises concern to the issues surrounding low wages towards the workers of these food products as well as harsh work conditions they are exposed to. If we were aware of our consumer influence for supporting ethical companies, we could effectively work to support companies whose product comes from an ethical means of
The cultural behaviors of the “American” or “Japanese” in the video do not accurately reflect business behaviors in these countries so please do not generalize based on the video. The video is meant as a classroom exercise to analyze a specific cultural encounter. Total 20 points.
This case study analyzes the experiences of Courtland Kelley at General Motors (GM). Courtland Kelley a third generation GM worker put his job on the line by pushing the GM managers and executives to fully respond to the safety issues found while working as a safety inspector at the company. Kelley along with his supervisor Bill McAleer first discovered the issues while auditing GM cars at rail yards across the country, a spot check of vehicles before the cars were cleared to be delivered to the dealers. McAleer was taken off the audit as a result, who subsequently sued the company seeking whistle-blower protection. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge in favor of GM. The judgement only increased Kelley’s
Costco Wholesale Corporation operates an international chain of membership warehouses, which carries quality, brand name
Chocolate is one of the most popular snack in the. Chocolate is made of cacao. And the cacao is produced most quantity in the Ivory Coast. Miklos Mattyasovszky said “The Ivory Coast supplies 1,448,992 tones which are 30 percent of the world’s total cocoa” (2017). 30 percent is huge proportion. But there is a problem with the large amount of cocoa production. The problem is Chocolate Slavery. Chocolate Slavery means labor force to children illegally. They do not get paid for their work. They have been abusing in cacao plantation. Children illegal labor has been discovering in most of chocolate producing countries, including Ivory Coast. The Chocolate Slavery was discovered in the early 1900s first in the West African coast (Doody, 2013).
This paper provided an opportunity to take a deeper look into the country of Japan by conducting a Global Cultural Analysis. Throughout this paper the following four research areas were explored: 1.What is the major elements and dimensions of culture in Japan? 2. How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in Japan? 3. How does U.S. culture and business compare with the elements and dimensions of culture integrated by the locals conducting business in Japan? 4. What are the implications for U.S. businesses that wish to conduct business with Japan?
Hierarchy and status are considered highly important in both Japan and Mexico in addition to a strong separation between the work and home life. Both Mexico and Japan rely on strong work relationships and loyalty in addition to having top down style of commination and information flow. Both countries have a belief in collectivism over individualism, according to Hofstede’s Value Dimensions, with Japan slightly higher on the index, similarly for the masculinity index. The implications of these characteristics can be viewed in each countries’ management approach. These societal values and characteristics influence each countries’ business behavior and methodologies. (Deresky, 2014)
Together with the usage of green sources to power the factory, these factors raise up the prices of a chocolate bar to the average of $5. It enhances the brand’s value and good image in people’s observation. Even though their prices are more expensive than other competitors’ prices, Theo still has a loyal following of organic chocolate customers. However, it does a very little traditional advertising. Therefore, in order to maintain the loyal customers and attract new consumers, Theo Chocolate is partnering with local and non-profit organizations that promote their company. Joseph Whinney understands that “Having the ingredients and the quality of the product is the most important thing. And then Fair Trade is the secondary message” (Lindell, par. 19), people concern about the taste, the quality, and the organic food. Besides that, Joe believes that people also care about how a company treats its employees and decide whether they wan to to do business with that company or not. Therefore, combining the two strategies is a good way for Theo to promote itself and build brand value inside customers’ minds.
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.
country and business values. Even the research emphasis on the cultural values, issues related to business that can affect business relations. It also tells about the business styles of Japanese. As compared with Canada it is found that Japanese are collectivists and poly-chronic in nature. Moving on there is no problem related to language as most of the Japanese speak their own native language. In this report it is recommended that Jell-O should do the promotions keeping in mind the family system of Japan. The other main point to be kept in mind before doing business
One of the most important facets for a successful business in the twenty-first century is how it communicates with their customers, partners, suppliers and governments from different countries and cultures from around the world. For a business to operate with any modicum of success in Japan, you must possess a basic understand of how their society functions. As a result of learning about the geography, climate, history, religion, cultural rituals, politics, education system, and the role of the family; it will allow a business or business person the insight needed to understand how society functions and the method in which business is conducted.
There are significant cultural differences between Japan and the United Kingdom that need to be taken into account when doing international business. There are also a number of methods and systems by which these differences have been described. These include the Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions, Trompenaars seven dimensions of culture and the Globe Project's cultural dimensions. This paper will discuss these differences and similarities, and shed light as to the best approach to international business in these countries.
“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.
The forced labour of children in the Ivorian cocoa farms is at a distance from the glamourised candy producers such as Mars and Nestlé, and a universe away from the day-to-day consumers of chocolate. That such a quixotic market shares a commonality with the more exposed diamond market, for example, whose implication in the sale and involvement of guns in tribal cleansing has long been documented, drives home the reminder that our modern prosperity, usually reached and used with the best of consumer intentions, if not also the corporate, and even our harmless, insignificant indulgences sometimes owe themselves to an extremely complex source environment. In this paper we dissect the
This report has been prepared for Fonterra which recommends the most appropriate entry mode, international strategy and human resources approach to enter the Japanese market, with an assessment of ethical issues they should be aware of.