What can a company do to detect and combat the efforts of unscrupulous foreign suppliers to deceive inspection/ compliance teams?
Global companies are at the risk of suffering from the activities done by foreign suppliers that work for the company. The actions of foreign suppliers dictate the reputation of the company. Illegal activities conducted by such suppliers would not only stain it but also bring about significant losses to the company. Illegal actions conducted by foreign suppliers include child labor, falsified employee records and corrupting the employees. Such illegal activities in business should be shunned from at whatever costs. This is because once these activities come to light; the company would suffer colossal losses and the company would lose an outsized number of customers. There are a couple of techniques through which such companies monitor, detect and combat such activities and eventually evade such repercussions. One such tactic conducting abrupt inspection tours to these suppliers’ premises. That way, it is very likely that the company would get the suppliers on the act of conducting some of these illegal activities. Also auditing these suppliers unexpectedly would also be a valuable tactic that would catch the suppliers red-handed conducting illegitimate activities. Since the employees may be instructed by the management on how to answer certain questions tabled by inspection teams, the company can only become conscious of the illegal activities of the suppliers by interviewing the employees privately. This way, the company will come to know of the accurate wages paid to the employees. In the interviewing of the employees confidentially, faking threats to close further operations and supplies would also play a major role in creating an awareness of any unlawful activities. Since the employees unquestionably want to retain their jobs it is very likely that the employees would expose the management’s dirty secrets.
Would you recommend that a company join the Fair Labor Association and use FLA’s standards and program of factory audits instead of trying to set up its own supplier monitoring and compliance effort?
The Fair Labor Association has for long been supportive employees and has worked towards seeing that fair handling of employees put into place in all factories and organizations. Any company that justly cares about their employees should definitely join the organization and accede to the association’s proposal to conduct audits on the company’s behalf. With the FLA being a non-profit organization (though this should not be the main reason as to why the company should join the organization) it will conduct the audits at reduced costs. This will reduce the company’s expenditure on conducting audits which would have been way higher if the company would set up its own monitoring and compliance team. Secondly, with the best qualified and specialized experts working for the FLA, it is decidedly definite that the FLA will become aware of any single detail of the supplier’s involvement in any illegal and oppressive activity as compared to any other team. The FLA would also ensure that the company doesn’t pay a single cent to the corrupt management of the suppliers. With a self developed inspections team, bribing is extremely likely to take place between the auditors and the management thus leaving the employees still oppressed.
What are the most and least significant factors of Nintendo?
With competitors such as Play station 3 and the X-Box 360 as the prime competitors, Nintendo requires a number of factors to ensure that it is not hauled out of business. Since the competitors always have extremely creative strategies, to match up the competitors and outdo them. Nintendo’s creative inventions constitute the most significant feature that the Nintendo possesses that always places it primarily ahead of its competition. The invention of the Wii was probably the greatest achievement that the Nintendo gaming company added to its résumé. The originality of its wireless consoles has contributed a lot to the success of the company. With such creativity levels, the company can be least assured to be the market leader for quite sometime. Nintendo’s marketing strategies are also very significant factors tailoring the company’s success. Its marketing campaigns and advertising has contributed largely to the company’s sensation. These strategies have seen Nintendo make outstanding sales. It is also reprehensible to ignore the fact that good publicity for the company’s products has also been indispensable factors towards its prosperity in the gaming market. Its relation with the workers also has played a part in its success.
