Mt462 Unit 4 Case Study Analysis
Mattel’s China Experience: A Crisis in Toyland
Unit 4: Mattel’s China Experience: A Crisis in Toyland Case Study Analysis
Kaplan University
School of Business and Management
MT460 Management Policy and Strategy
Author: Charity Barnes
Professor: Dr. Dryce
Date: July 29, 2012
China is a major manufacturer of the world’s toys; it is very hard now days to picks up a top, look to see where it was made and not see ‘China’. The largest toy company to offshore toy manufacturing is Mattel which has become as household name for families with small children. Because China is not as ‘up to date’ in the health category when it comes to manufacturing, it has caused a great deal of problems for Mattel. In order to get the situation resolved, China will be required to change the method in which they manufacture toys. With major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target removing Mattel’s products from their shelves because of incompliance with safety regulations, Mattel has lost an exponentially large amount of revenue. The main issue in this situation is that the toys imported from China with the Mattel brand name of them contain higher amounts of lead than acceptable. With the sale of Mattel products at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R’ Us accounting for approximately 43% of the total revenue in 2007, when these retailers removed all Mattel products manufactured in China from their shelves, Mattel took a hit of mass proportion (Teagarden, N.d.). The problem that lies within all of this chaos is that the toys imported from China did not comply with the lead-based standards. The lead-based standards in China are/were very different than those in the United States and they toys were being made to China’s standards and not the United States. The United States and China either need to get on the same page when it comes to the acceptable lead content in toys or they need to cut ties with China when it comes to the toy
Unit 4: Mattel’s China Experience: A Crisis in Toyland Case Study Analysis
Kaplan University
School of Business and Management
MT460 Management Policy and Strategy
Author: Charity Barnes
Professor: Dr. Dryce
Date: July 29, 2012
China is a major manufacturer of the world’s toys; it is very hard now days to picks up a top, look to see where it was made and not see ‘China’. The largest toy company to offshore toy manufacturing is Mattel which has become as household name for families with small children. Because China is not as ‘up to date’ in the health category when it comes to manufacturing, it has caused a great deal of problems for Mattel. In order to get the situation resolved, China will be required to change the method in which they manufacture toys. With major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target removing Mattel’s products from their shelves because of incompliance with safety regulations, Mattel has lost an exponentially large amount of revenue. The main issue in this situation is that the toys imported from China with the Mattel brand name of them contain higher amounts of lead than acceptable. With the sale of Mattel products at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R’ Us accounting for approximately 43% of the total revenue in 2007, when these retailers removed all Mattel products manufactured in China from their shelves, Mattel took a hit of mass proportion (Teagarden, N.d.). The problem that lies within all of this chaos is that the toys imported from China did not comply with the lead-based standards. The lead-based standards in China are/were very different than those in the United States and they toys were being made to China’s standards and not the United States. The United States and China either need to get on the same page when it comes to the acceptable lead content in toys or they need to cut ties with China when it comes to the toy