tainability: Ethical and Social Responsibility Dimensions 375 RESOLVING ETHICAL
ID: 325680 • Letter: T
Question
tainability: Ethical and Social Responsibility Dimensions 375 RESOLVING ETHICAL BUSINESS CHALLENGES After graduating from Ohio State, Keisha got a job in After two days of phone calls, she finally contacted the marketing and public relations department at a small someone soda company called Smith's Sodas. Smith's Sodas spe- ment of the plastic cializes in high-quality fruit flavored soft drinks with who had been involved in the actual develop "Yes, it's true the plastic only degrades under certain uch as pomegranate, raspberry, blue- conditions, he informed her. "But that's still better than d coconut. The company had great plans for a lot of other plastics. the future. In 10 years Smith's Sodas wanted to become ? competitor to its larger rivals, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, The Keisha approached her manager, Louis, to discuss the issue Louis did not understand Keisha s concern t company sold sodas with lower calories than its in a variety of flavors. However, f the battle. The rest was up to don't see what the problem is, Keisha, other than the fact that this reporter is trying to cause trouble. As long as the plastic biodegrades under certain natural conditions, rivals and offered them the marketing department to promote the sodas as being then we are fine superior to the competition. "Yes, but Louis, our claims made it seem the bottles Recently, Keisha was called into her supervisor's degrade fairly eas?ly, when in reality people must com office and assigned a new project. She would take the post them. Even then they only degrade under certain lead in a marketing initiative that promoted a new fea- conditions. Isn't this a type of greenwashing? ture meant to appeal to the eco-conscious consumer: Louis frowned at the mention of greenwashing Kei biodegradable packaging. One of the company's sup- sha, the term biodegradable is vague. We have a supplier pliers came up with a soda bottle made with a new bio- and it is not our responsibility to prove the packaging is degradable plastic manufactured with plant materials. biodegradable. We are not being deceitful, and it is up to Keisha was told the supplier struggled to develop this the consumer to know how to dispose of the package so plastic for years and Smith's Sodas was staking much of it degrades properly. We can't control what happens to its credibility on developing an image as an environmen the product after the consumer buys it. Many may sim tally friendly organization. ply toss it into the garbage What happens if the reporter publishes her find Keisha immediately began learning about the plas tic and writing up press releases to send to local news ings?" Keisha asked. stations. She put in long hours working on a marketing campaign touting the product's sustainability and how say the plastic is biodegradable. Besides, most much better it is for the environment. She stressed the nies have to rely on supplier claims. I don't see any rea fact that the plastic should be composted rather than son why we need to change our marketing claims simply thrown in the trash to biodegrade properly Louis looked adamant. "We are not lying when we A few days ago Keisha received a call from a local reporter. "I've heard all of the hype concerning these biodegradable bottles your company is using. I wanted to test just how biodegradable this plastic really is. I contacted scientists at the local university to test its bio- degradability. They tested the bottle under 10 different conditions with different types of soil. Only four out of the ten tests resulted in the plastic degrading to anysha respond major extent. 1. Aresmith's Sodas's marketing claims accurate and truthful? Discuss the justifications Louis uses to argue for th uthfulness of the company's marketing claims 3. Assume there is a news story questioning the sustain ability of Smith's Sodas packaging. How should Kei- When Keisha hung up the phone, she decided to This case iw arnctly bpoburick sny mani vestigate whether the reporter's claims were accurate. copniesExplanation / Answer
Answer 1:
Smith Soda’s marketing claims are not accurate and truthful – Smith Soda’s marketing claims that they are going to use biodegradable plastic material for packaging of their soda products. Smith’s Soda teams are going to purchase the packaging material which is declared by the supplier that their bottle is of biodegradable plastic material. But when this material was tested in lad, it is biodegradable under certain special conditions of soil only and it is not biodegradable in all conditions of soil. Hence Smith’s soda claims are not accurate and truthful, as these are biodegradable under certain conditions only and they are not biodegradable in general soils.
Answer 2:
Louis uses the justification as below
Answer 3:
For the new questioning of the sustainability of the Smith soda’s packaging, then Keisha will respond to this question by detail understanding on this subject and then later she will update against this question. She may do the study on the sustainability aspect for the packaging and will find out the details for the sustainability from their experts and then after internal review and confirmation, she will update on the sustainability of the packaging to the reporter.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.