“MATTEL: CRISIS MANAGEMENT OR MANAGEMENT CRISIS”

Based in California, Mattel, Inc. designed, manufactured, and marketed a broad variety of toy products. The company’s core product lines included Barbie fashion dolls, Hot Wheels die- cast vehicles, Fisher-Price preschool toys along with Disney toys and games like Scrabble (Johnson, 2010). Summer of 2007, Mattel, a global leader in toy manufacturing was faced with a tough challenge of restoring their consumer confidence following several recalls of their toys made in China. Mattel known for possessing the gold standard of testing and safety of its products came under scrutiny for several infractions with their toys. One of which had unacceptable lead levels in the paint and another contained a magnet that could un-attach and potentially harm a child. Mattel had strict requirement for its contract suppliers, which were subject to inspection by independent auditors (Baron, 2013). These issues clearly feel through the cracks or where random isolated incidents. Nonetheless, in order to achieve their normally high standards, Mattel needs to establish a direct relationship with vendors who manufacture the raw materials for their toys and set safety guidelines. Mattel has had to assess whether its current policies and procedures were sufficient to ensure safety. In addition to procedures such as factory audits and inspections, technology could be used to mitigate certain risks (Baron, 2013). Clearly Mattel does not have a sufficiently tight quality control procedure to compensate for the risks of outsourcing to Chinese subcontractors. Design flaws are also a major issue. Although the company responded to the crisis quickly Mattel still faces a number of problems, including significant costs associated with the recalls and new monitoring systems, potential lawsuits and a hit to its reputation.

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