Ethics

Ethics

Ethics

Lesson 3 , Assignment 2

Case Study - Johnson Johnson

Discussion Questions

1 . How would you advise the CEO of Johnson Johnson to respond to this crisis ? What specific questions need to be addressed in formulating a response

If I were advising the CEO of Johnson Johnson , I would make the recommendation that an immediate response be made to the public , not only to protect innocent people who potentially could be victims of a tainted product , but also to protect the future interests of the company by showing

that although a serious problem has occurred , the problem was caused by factors out of the control of Johnson Johnson , and that the company is prepared to take decisive action . The specific questions that need to be addressed in formulating a response are what the extent of the tainting actually was , what steps the public could do to protect themselves , and what Johnson Johnson was doing in the interests of public safety . Overall , in answering these questions , the company would protect people and the organization

2 . Should the product have been recalled ? What are the arguments for and against a recall

Undoubtedly , the product should have been recalled some may argue that a recall may have increased panic and made the problem seem bigger than it was , but in reality , the argument for the recall makes more sense once the public learned of the problem , if anyone had any sort of an adverse reaction that could be linked directly or indirectly to Tylenol the public relations and legal fallout could be lethal to the company

3 . Analyze the question of recalling the product from the economic legal , and moral points of view . Do the results differ from the decision that Johnson Johnson eventually made

Economically , recalling the product may have resulted in huge costs to Johnson Johnson , but this was unavoidable the company could neither afford to recall nor to refrain from a recall . Legally , as was discussed in the earlier question , not recalling could have led to a flurry of lawsuits . Morally , the outrage of the public would be incurred if the product were not recalled , just from the appearance of negligence . On the other hand , by doing the recall , Johnson Johnson could redeem itself somewhat . In retrospect , the company was wise to recall the product for these reasons and others

4 . What benefit did Johnson Johnson derive from the company 's credo Could any other company with such a credo respond in the same way ? Did the credo enable Johnson Johnson to save the Tylenol brand , which many marketing experts thought was doomed

The benefit that Johnson Johnson derived from the company 's credo was that they appeared just as their credo claims they are-responsible . It is unlikely that any other company with such a credo could respond in the same way Johnson Johnson was so entrenched in this credo for so many years , that anyone else trying to use it would have come across as not credible or genuine...