Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Issues in Importing Toys from China

Running head: BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Business and society
Name of student
Name of University
Author note
Table of Contents

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BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Section 1: Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Section 2: Rationale.....................................................................................................................................4
Section 3: Impacts.......................................................................................................................................6
Section 4: Impacts.......................................................................................................................................7
Section 5: Impacts.....................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................13

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BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Corporations importing toys from manufacturers in China, given the discovery of lead in
some toy products produced in that country
Section 1: Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the corporate social responsibilities and ethical
issues that may arise due to the importing of toys manufactured in China with the use of lead. It
is found that the China toy manufacturing companies have been using lead and other harmful
substances during the production of toys, which can be harmful for the children and create
certain health related issues. The impact on stakeholders and their roles will be demonstrated
here along with the ethical issues that may emerge1. Due to the discovery of lead in some of the
toys manufactured in China, there have been ethical issues considering its negative impact on the
heath of young individuals as well as violating the rules, laws and regulations regarding the
corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility means the various initiatives
undertaken by the company to assess the roles and responsibilities and carry out those properly
to create positive impact on the environment and promote social wellbeing2. The efforts done by
the company can help to protect the environment and manage the corporate social
responsibilities properly too for sustaining within the competitive business environment. Mattel
is one of the most popular toy manufacturers in Canada, which has managed to import toys from
the manufacturers in China and there are evidences that discovered the presence of lead in some
1 Shen, Zhengtao, et al. "Lead-based paint in children's toys sold on China's major online
shopping platforms." Environmental Pollution 241 (2018): 311-318.
2 Decharat, Somsiri. "Assessment of lead levels in some children’s plastic toys." Asia-Pacific
Journal of Science and Technology 18.6 (2017): 1026-1033.

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BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
of the toy products produced in China. This is a major CSR and ethical issue that hinders the
rules and regulations regarding the health and wellbeing of the children and people within the
community3.
Section 2: Rationale
The ethics of the issues involved the use of various methods of ethical reasoning
including the utility, rights and justice. The various methods will not only help in determining
the ethics related to the current issues faced by the toy manufacturing companies in Canada, but
may also lead to deterioration of sales revenue in business. The costs and benefits are to be
considered for analyzing the ethics of the issues and ensure that the three methods and
techniques are managed properly to evaluate the ethics of relevant issues4. The methods of
ethical reasoning are utilitarian, rights and justice, which have been useful for analyzing the cost,
benefits, receiving the share and distributing the profit and loss equally. The costs are mainly
incurred while importing the toys from manufacturers in China, which resulted in finding out the
presence of lead in some of the toy products. Getting the right toy products that cannot create any
harm to people and the environment is considered as a major right of the individuals in Canada
while the justice represents following the legal requirements and becoming ethical in the
business operations5. This is mainly done for ensuring that the children are provided with quality
3 Decharat, Somsiri. "Assessment of lead levels in some children’s plastic toys." Asia-Pacific
Journal of Science and Technology 18.6 (2017): 1026-1033.
4 Lawrence, Anne T., and James Weber. Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public
policy. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
5 Luo, Yadong, and Hongxin Zhao. "Doing business in a transitional society: Economic
environment and relational political strategy for multinationals." Business & Society 52.3 (2013):
515-549.