Ohio Art Company

3) Is it possible, as Mr. Killgallon claims, that the Ohio Art Company had no knowledge of labour problems at Kin Ki? Do you think company executives had any knowledge of the working conditions?

It is possible, but strange, that Mr. Killgallon and the other executives didn’t have knowledge of the labor problems at Kin Ki. If true, this shows the lack of care of the responsibilities given to the executive board.  The decision makers would have had to be in the dark about the reasons behind the low costs, conditions, salary levels, and costs.

In this case, the executives at Ohio Art Company are to blame for not taking the right steps to know all the information about a supplier prior to engage business with. They are to blame for not asking all the right and necessary questions. They are also to blame for not investigating the supplier’s operations both prior to the start of operations and during operations.  

Further, the management of the company had a responsibility to make the best business, moral, and legal choices. In their hands lay the jobs of hundreds of Ohio Art Company workers that were talked into the fact that their layoff was assured, but the company that they had put so much hard work into would continue to represent their values and beliefs.

4) What steps can executives at the Ohio Art Company take to make sure they do not find the company profiled in the NY Times again as an enterprise that benefits from sweatshop labor?

There are many steps that Ohio Art Company can take to improve its image and ensure that it is not profiled again in The NY Times as a firm that profits from the exploitation of labor. First, the company needs to clean up its act at Kin Ki and make its improvements known to the public. This should include:

• Increasing worker salaries to at least minimum wage.
• Enforcing 40-hour workweeks.
• Providing pension plans, medical coverage and employment contracts to all workers.
• Allowing at least four breaks per day in addition to lunch and dinner.
• Improving worker meals and accommodations.
• Allowing freedom of expression and workers to unionize.
• Annual monitoring by independent investigators.

 The company should include regional managers that can be trained to learn the culture from the region where they are working. Mangers should be aware of environmental practices, accounting methods, and any other possible violation areas. They should establish a zero tolerance policy. These changes will help eliminate the bad image given by the press.