You have selected a supplier in China who will manufacture one of the components

Question

You have selected a supplier in China who will manufacture one of the components that go into your consumer-electronics device. You learn that this supplier has switched to a manufacturing technique that is leaking potentially hazardous materials into the groundwater. What would you do? Would you tell them to go back to their original method? (Would you pay them more if they said the original method was more expensive to implement?) Would you withdraw your business and try to find another supplier, knowing this will cause delays and possible stock-outs of your products? Would you help the company clean up and solve the hazardous materials leak? Would you report the supplier to the government and let the government handle it (even if the government is prone to turning a blind eye on environmental issues)?

Explanation / Answer

I will not pay them higher but rather I would advise them to switch back to original method to avoid any damages to environment, supplier’s own brand and my company’s brand image because:

Also, I would look for an alternative supplier to reduce any stock and business losses. Since potential legal risks and liabilities under Negligence of Law can be:

Will surely report to government, if supplier is not interested in taking corrective actions because Potential legal risks and liabilities under Product Liability Law:

Product liability comes from negligence, a breach of warranty, and any consumer protection claims in context of manufacturing defect/ design defect/ a failure to warn (marketing failure)

Any kind of issues occurring, legal etc. will create an un-repairable damage to their brand equity.

Legal suits may start by Consumer courts etc. and reach to damage level till wrong specifications/ misused use of technical specifications and limits kind of reasons, making product difficult to sell among consumers and much difficult to launch any new products in future

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