Management
Contamination in a single basic product can end up upsetting many secondary industries that use the product as an input. Thus if the milk is found contaminated then a lot of types of products can end up being affected. Some of them are, Milk based drinks like flavoured milk, Butter, Cheese, Custard, Cream and sour cream, Yogurt, Ice Cream, Cookies, Cheese based sauces and Pudding. Just imagine if due to contaminated drink, ice-creams, the favourite dessert of most people turned into a potential disease causing agent. The outcomes would be many customers filing suits against all ice-cream outlets and companies there. As history suggests, in such a case, the ice-cream manufacturer who failed to make sure of the quality standards of their inputs, will be held liable.
In certain cases, the quality of inputs could have been tested as per standards , but some new technique to circumvent the system might have been at play. Thus the quality lapse might have been a genuine issue. In such a case, the customer relationship management system could take up an active role and make customers aware of the contamination issue. It could offer refunds and store credits to all customers who have bought the faulty product. They could suggest remedies or offer check-ups where possible, for potential diseases that could affect customers. This could be a good way to control the damage that can otherwise wreak havoc to any well known brand/ company.
Chinese authorities, after finding contamination in the milk supply, sentenced middle men to death and sent a dairy boss to prison for life. According to me, no unethical corporate behavior should go unpunished, however a hurried announcement of capital punishment is inappropriate. It sounds like it was a strategic move by Chinese government to re-instill faith in corporate China and the wrongdoers in this case, ended up becoming the scapegoats. High standards for ethical behavior must be encouraged in the country by other means like slapping huge fines or withdrawing licenses from guilty companies. But taking away sacred life is not the answer to the problem, its not finishing the root cause of the problem. And thus I do not think US should follow the example of China as regards awarding punishments and implementing laws that let officials do so.
There have been problems on other products too that are imported from China to the US. Drywall, or plasterboard was imported from China to US and is a common building material. Volatile chemicals were discovered on testing (Grant ). This could cause various allergies and lung related problems to the people who used them. Chinese steel exporters falsified the chemical composition of the grade of steel exported and sub-par steel was supplied to the US in 2011 (Williford). Various consumer products such as shoes etc that have been manufactured in China at cheaper rates and by employing unethical labour standards, have been discovered time and again. Exploding smartphone batteries of Samsung phones seems to be repetitive casualty. This lapse in standards cannot be approved of in the US. But as corporate America constantly decides what quality of products will be consumed by American consumers, it seems to be up to the law enforcement agencies to implement very strict standards concerning quality. These should be constructed and followed very religiously for any positive results. As imports become inevitable, and importing low cost inputs becomes order of the day, only stricter laws can keep consumers safe. America already has highest standards of food safety in the world. But these should be updated regularly as new techniques are invented to circumvent the existing testing methods. The equipment that is used in these testing should also be kept up to date to avoid anything sub-par in quality from escaping scrutiny.
Works Cited
Grant, Allison. "Welcome to Chinesedrywall.com." Welcome to Chinesedrywall.com. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Williford, Sam. "More Problems With Chinese Steel | Economy In Crisis."Economy In Crisis RSS. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
