A Matter of Trust: Johnson & Johnson Product Recalls
|
Case Code: BSTR393 Case Length: 18 Pages Period: 2010-2011 Pub Date: 2011 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: Johnson & Johnson Industry: Healthcare Countries: US Themes: Project Finance Crisis Management , Corporate Social Responsibility |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
"I know that we let the public down. We did not maintain our high quality standards. Children do not have access to our important medicines. I accept full accountability for the problems and I will take full accountability for fixing them."
- William Weldon, CEO, Johnson & Johnson, in 2010.
"This is not the first time a multinational corporation appears to have under reacted to a limited product problem that turned into a big public relations headache. Coca-Cola was slow to respond to reports in 1999 that several hundred people in Western Europe had become sick after drinking Coke."
- Stephen A. Greyser, Professor Emeritus of Marketing, Harvard Business School, in 2010.
Introduction
"Looking for Tylenol pain relief products?" asked some signs at a CVS drugstores located in suburban Boston at the beginning of 2011. Trying to help customers who might be searching unsuccessfully for Tylenol, the signs suggested, "Try CVS/pharmacy brand"; and little red flags peeping out of shelves guided people toward the alternatives available. While the signs remained silent about Tylenol, this hint ended most customers' search for Tylenol and served as a subtle confirmation of its absence from the store. Some customers who probed further soon realized that it was not just Tylenol but an entire range of drugs from the much trusted brand Johnson and Johnson (J&J) that were not to be found in any store they visited.
These drugs included Motrin, Rolaids, Mylanta, Pepcid AC, some Neutrogena skin care products, and children's Tylenol liquid and adult Tylenol. Regular customers had no clue why the drugs were missing nor had they any reason to suspect that there was anything wrong with the medicines offered by a reputed brand that had a history of more than a century making itself synonymous with quality and buyer's trust...
It was surprising to some of those who were not following J&J closely for unaware of quality related issues in some of its products which had started to surface since 2008. But some quick enquiries at drug stores and a little research about the non-availability of these drugs brought to light one of the most unnerving revelations. The mentioned drugs were in short supply because McNeil Consumer Healthcare (MNCH), which was a part of J&J, had recalled about 288 million products in the last one year (2010) due to alleged defects in the products. These included 136 million bottles of liquid Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl for infants and children.
Those who cared to look into the entire series of events soon realized that the Food and Drug Administrator (FDA)6 of the US had alleged serious quality lapses at the MNCH facility and criticized it for failing to adhere to the "best manufacturing practices," which were mandatory for the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA had also accused the company of resorting to a soft market withdrawal of the products by hiring contractors to buy the entire available lot from the shelves of retail locations and stated that it might consider initiating criminal proceedings against J&J for its lapses and wrongful product recall which had undermined public health. ....
Buy this case study (Please select any one of the payment options)
| Price: Rs.400 |
Price: Rs.400 | PayPal (9 USD) |
