Case Study on Joe Fresh | Report

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Background of the Case study
The case study focuses on Joe Fresh, a renowned Canadian fashion brand that was
launched in select Loblaw retailers offering female-only, affordable fashion line initially.
Gradually, the brand opened more than 300 stores throughout Canada and expanded to include
children’s and men’s clothing as well. in no time, the company began to emerge as one of the top
names in the line of children’s fashion and even opened a flagship store recently at the Fifth
Avenue in New York. With such rise in such a short time, it was beyond anyone’s imagination
that the rising start of Canada’s fashion business could immerse in a controversy but it did, in
2013.
Summary of the case study
On 24 April 2013, a tragic incidence occurred in Dhaka, Bangladesh at Rana Plaza that
resulted in the death of more 1100 factory workers. Rana Plaza is known as the hub of big names
in the fashion industry including Walmart, H&M and the Canadian brand, Joe Fresh. These
companies had their factories in the Plaza where fashion apparels were sewn by the workers.
Investigations into the incident revealed that massive breach of safety parameters was done by
the local administration as well as the big companies that had factories there. The building was
already wearing out when the workers were forced to work there despite warnings that the
building had cracks and might collapse. While several big brands including Disney announced
their intentions to move their operations out of Bangladesh, Joe Fresh decided to continue
operating from the country. Joe Mimran, cofounder of the company justified the company’s
continuing of operations in Bangladesh stating that it looks to conduct business to drive
everlasting change by continuing their business. The incident put Joe Fresh under the scanner in

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
terms of not only ethical and moral considerations but also the reputation. Loblaw, the patent
firm of Joe Fresh decided to send several high-ranking officials to Bangladesh and asked them to
scrutinize the situation and resolve it at the earliest. The company even made the promise to
provide compensation to the families of the victims and supervise each aspect of their product
manufacturing to make sure it maintains its values.
With the help of various efforts targeted at minimizing the damage caused to the brand
due to the incident, Loblaw was able to prevent boycott and keep the Canadian consumer base.
These efforts included public address, numerous statements and several new initiatives.
However, the devastation in Bangladesh did not make much difference to the consumer base of
any of the companies tied to the incident. Owing to the tragedy, several big retailers including
Joe Fresh signed a pact that aimed towards creating vital improvements to building safety in
Bangladesh. The company also announced publicly about its commitment to contribute towards
Bangladesh’s welfare after the tragedy.
Answers
1.
The case clearly presents itself as a massive violation of the Corporate Social
Responsibility or CSR. The CSR is a business model prepared by the company itself to be more
accountable to the society (Ahen & Zettinig, 2015). When the tragedy took place in Bangladesh,
the company’s CSR policy and actions were heavily compromised. The CSR of a company has
four levels – economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethical responsibility and
philanthropic responsibility (Kim et al., 2017). According to the annual CSR report of Loblaw, it
endeavors to “better understand what matters most to the stakeholders as well as the impacts of

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
their actions” (Loblaw.ca, 2019). It further states that the company strives to incorporate
transparency and accountability in its actions, and desire to make positive contributions towards
the people, the community and the environment. As could be evident, the CSR report of the
company incorporates all the four levels of CSR.
In the given case, the levels of ethical and legal responsibilities within the CSR have been
an issue for the company. Ethical level CSR was compromised when the company did not show
any responsibility when it came to ensuring the rights of the workers while making them work in
its factory. Another CSR issue that came up was the neglect of laws regarding working hours of
factory workers especially. As found in the case study, the workers in Bangladesh were often
made to work for 13 to 14 hours on all seven days in a week. Apart from that, the workers were
forced to work in the factory on the day of the tragedy despite knowing the building had cracks.
This was also a serious breach of both ethical and legal breach of CSR.
2.
In case of Joe Fresh, as already mentioned in the previous answer, the CSR values that it
upholds were under severe criticism after the tragic incident. Galen G. Watson, the Chairperson
and CEO of Loblaw mentioned in the 2018 Annual CSR Report about the various schemes and
efforts of the company towards the betterment of the community but it did not include anything
associated with upholding the rights of the workers. As Park, Lee and Kim (2014) observe,
companies are bound to feel accountable to the society because they are using the resources, both
human and natural resources from the society. The authors also found that maintaining the CSR
and being accountable to the society increases the overall reputation of the company.