麋茸Should the Culprit Be Punished?
Jean Safari was investigating a rious error made by a Japane worker at the Japane subsidiary of a US multinational. A component had been inrted upside down and the entire batch had been pulled out of production to be reworked. The cost of this was high.
Jean asked the Japane plant director about which employee had made the error. Had she been identified? What action was being taken against her? She was amazed when the director claimed not to know. “The whole work group has accepted responsibility,” he told her. “As to the specific woman responsible, they have not told me, not did I ask. Even the floor supervisor does not know and if he did, he would not tell me either.”
But if everyone is responsible then in effect no one is, Jean argued. They are simply protecting each other’s bad work.
“This is not how we e it.” The plant manager was polite but firm. “I understand the woman concerned was so upt when she went home. She tried to resign. Two of her co-workers h
ad to coax her back again. The group knows that she is new and that they did not help her enough, or looks out for her or e that she was properly trained. This is why the whole group has apologized. I have their letter here. They are willing to apologize to you publicly.”岭南春早
“No, no. I don’t want that,” said Jean. “I want to stop it happening again…”she wondered what she should do.
Questions for discussion:
1. Should Jean insist on identifying the woman who made the error?
2. Should the woman be punished and leave the work group?
3. What do you think is the best solution to Jean’s dilemma?
The American Girl in Japan—Barbie’s Struggling Story over Two Decades
Mattel Inc. has had great difficulty conquering the world’s cond-largest toy market, Jap长嘴鱼
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an, which is vital if Mattel is to achieve its goal of becoming more global. The Japane market is notoriously difficult to penetrate as Mattel has found during 20 years of doing business in the country. Mattel’s initial attempts to market Barbie in Japan met with limited success. Mattel had entered the market without thoroughly understanding it. To address the problem of low sales, Mattel enlisted the rvices of Takara, a Japane toy specialist. Through focus groups, Mattel learned that Barbie’s legs were too long, and her chest too large – in short, Japane girls didn’t relate to Barbie’s physical attributes. Also, Barbie’s eyes were changed from blue to brown, and the doll ultimately took on a look that was appealing to the Japane children’s n of aesthetics. The Takara Barbie was born.
机械设备管理制度Although sales improved, a licensing disagreement prompted Mattel to terminate the relationship with Takara and arch for a new partner in Japan. Takara continued lling the doll as Jenny, which, ironically, became a competitor to the new Japane Barbie. In 1986, Mattel joined forces with Bandai, Japan’s largest toy company. Bandai produced Maba Barbies (“Ma” for Mattel and “ba” for Bandai) with wide brown eyes. Due to its simil
arities to the Jenny doll, however, Maba Barbie was withdrawn from the market before it achieved success. Maba was replaced by Bandai Barbies which were again similar to Jenny, posssing the wide-eye look but wearing mainly ball gowns and unimaginative clothing.
Once again, market success eluded Mattel. Indeed, Mattel was committed to neither Japane nor an American style and thus competed poorly against dolls who identity was well defined. However, Mattel realized that its competitive advantage lay with its American culture. Though Mattel had attempted to adapt to the Japane culture, Mattel discovered once again that girls prefer the well-known Barbie to the local versions. In 1991, Mattel ended its relationship with Bandai and opened its own marketing and sales office in Tokyo. Mattel introduced its American Barbie to Japan and experienced success with “long hair star Barbie” which became one of the top-lling dolls in Japan. Although financial loss mounted until 1993, in 1994 Barbie made a profit in Japan with sales almost doubling since its reintroduction.
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In 1999, Mattel refocud its Japane efforts. Then CEO Jill Barad promid to double Mattel’s international sales within 5 years. To this end, a Japane native named Sam Sugiyama was placed in charge of Mattel’s Japane operations; previously, the position had been held by American expatriates. Mr. Sugiyama stated that Mattel was “very anxious to do something quickly,” understandable considering its past problems in the market. After almost 20 years of perverance in Japan, it was imperative that Mattel improve its position. Therefore, the company joined forces once again with Bandai to form a marketing, sales, and product development alliance in an effort to tackle the complex Japane distribution system.
婚礼现场布置
At the end of 2001, CEO Robert Eckert reported that Mattel’s strategic partnership with Bandai had “eliminated chronic operating loss” in Japan.
