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Businesses have moral and ethical responsibilities toward their customers. Ethical responsibilities cannot be imposed on businesses but it is necessary to be observed for their success. To shed more light on business ethics, Gerber Company is reviewed. Gerber-Product-Company is a company that was founded in 1927 to produce baby products.
It is now operating as a subsidiary of Nestle Company. The company has grown to a multinational company operating in several destinations across the world. Although the company enjoys a strong brand name in the market where it operates, it has had share of problems as well. The strong brand name is created as a result of loyal customers who believe that the company offers high quality products as compared to the competitors in baby food industry (Haig 34).
The company has been faced with ethical issues in the course of dealing with its customers. In 1986, for instance Gerber found itself in awkward situation brought about by the presence of foreign objects in baby foods products. Pieces of glass were found in jars of baby food. Although there were no deaths reported as a result of babies consuming foods containing pieces of glass, some were seriously hurt. According to the public opinion at the time of the incident, Gerber Company did not handle the incident appropriately.
The public relations department did not issue any repot to the public assuring them that their products are safe for consumption. Another ethical issue arose as a result of the company’s failure to recall the products from the market. After an investigation was done on the allegations leveled against the company, it was found that there was no fault on part of manufacturing process.
Despite the outcome of the investigation favoring the company, it was still believed that the company had moral responsibility of issuing statements to the public and to their customers. It is worth noting that the strong brand name is psychological and that authorities and the company had a responsibility to assure the public that the baby foods products produced by Gerber are safe and there was no cause for alarm (Vilcox 58).
Instead of creating public awareness that the products produced are safe for human consumption, the company sued the state-of-Maryland for banning the sale of the products in that state. The move portrayed the company in bad picture since no public statements were made to make assurance to the public that all is well with the products supplied by the company.
Recently, the Gerber Company has been faced by yet another ethical issue. It was reported that pieces of glass were found in jars of baby food in France. The company discredited the allegations leveled against the company. It went ahead to assure the Americans that the allegations were made in France and had nothing to do with the American markets. The company did not recall the baby foods in France the move they considered expensive to the company (National Business Education Association, 33).
There are various observations that have been made from the incident at Gerber Company. The company should have responded to the crisis in media to avert the crisis. This would have confirmed that the company cares for the interests of their customers. Secondly, the company should have conducted a media enquiry so as to assure the customers that the company is doing everything possible to avert the situation.
The company should have come up with new products and packaging that meets the expectations of their customers. Lastly, it was in order for the company to give timely information to its customers that their products are safe for use thus creating public confidence for their products (Vilcox 153).
Works Cited
Haig, Matt. Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time. London: Kogan Page limited. 2011. Print.
National Business Education Association. Business Education Forum. Michigan: Michigan University. 1986. Print.
Vilcox, Mary Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics. New York: Nova Publishers. 2007. Print.
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