ASIAN TOYS

THE SIMULATION

The simulation revolved around Asian Toys, a well-known manufacturer of toys and games, and one of
its hot-selling products ‘Play Time’, advertised as “the toy that makes toys”. The Chairman of Asian Toys,
Chamanlal, received the news that a second child had died of suffocation after inhaling a part (a rivet)
from its Play Time construction toy. Four days later, an autopsy confirmed the cause of death. Chairman
of Asian Toys met with his key executives (General Manager - Manufacturing, General Manager -
Marketing, General Manager - Finance, Public Relations Manager and Legal Advisor) to discuss this latest
development and now had to decide upon a course of action. The facts that were summarized for the
decision making were as follows:-

 Two deaths had occurred only seven months apart and both involved the same part from the
same product.
 Play Time met all voluntary and industry safety standards.
 Asian Toys was under no pressure from any government agency to do anything.
 Never before in 100 years of being in business had the company faced a similar situation of
serious accident or fatality resulting from the use or misuse of any of its products despite the
lakhs of small parts in them.

The four alternatives considered by Mr. Lal were:-

 Do nothing. Both incidents clearly resulted from product misuse.

 Issue a statement to the consumer and put a warning label on the package pointing out the
hazards of the misuse.
 Modify the product
 Total recall

The meeting however gets disrupted by the press members and mob, who arrived without prior notice
and wanted to know the company's reaction to the situation. The activity focused on the merits of the
decision taken, process of decision making, handling press and public relations in light of crisis situation
and public pressure.

FEELINGS EVOKED

The initial case reading opened up a clear window of how a well-established company and a brand could
meet an unprecedented crisis situation. It evoked a feeling of urgency for a prompt decision making so
as to stop the crisis from escalating to a higher level, reduce the damage done to the firm’s reputation
and minimize costs that could be incurred.

While the simulation was being carried on and we were listening to the discussion being undertaken by
students playing their respective roles, we could sense an air of ambiguity and tension. This was
followed by utter shock when a bunch of press members and mob entered the class shouting slogans
against the CEO and blaming him for the accident. This created a very serious atmosphere of danger,
loss of control and risk. After the exercise we could imagine and relate to a real life situation where the
implications would be manifold as compared to a class simulation.

KEY LEARNINGS

As the events of the case unfolded, it became pretty obvious that a quick yet well thought response
under extreme pressure from external elements like media, protestors etc. is needed . The extent to
which a situation can damage the reputation and consequently the business depends on the response
strategy and amount of responsibility taken by the organisation. Major learning from this exercise was
that if a very well established business like Asian toys can face crisis situation which was completely
unprecedented and couldn't have been foreseen by the company in any way , then any and every
business can face such situations and hence should be better prepared. Promoting a culture of risk
mitigation and crisis management can help better handle such situations. During a crisis some of the
obvious skills required to handle the situation, as demonstrated by the exercise include ability to make
quick yet well informed decisions potential to analyze the situation , see the bigger picture and think in
terms of long term impact. effective and clear communication strategy both internal and to
consumers/clients adaptability.

APPLICATIONS OF THESE LEARNINGS IN FUTURE WORK-LIFE

Crisis are inevitable to any firm, no matter how big and successful it is or for how many years it has been
into business. They are complex situations and demand coordination between different departments
and organisms. They require rapid decision making and strong communication channel. The extent to
which an organisation takes the responsibility of the crisis and communicates the same to the
customers, decides the amount of damage that can occur to the company. A few real life examples
which I can better relate to after this exercise can be : Nestle India Maggi crisis where a multinational
struggled to restore its image in the minds of people as a tasty healthy snack as part of its brand
and image reparation strategy; Johnson and Johnson -Asbestos Fiasco can be a very recent example of
organizational crisis wherein taking full responsibility can be a correct crisis management strategy; other
famous crisis like Volkswagen emission Crisis, McDonald’s infamous scalding coffee case, Uber CEO
misconduct crisis and their responses now can be better understood as a result of this exercise and the
topic discussed in class .

At a personal level, we as students are better equipped to deal with crisis management if ever one arises
in our professional career. Anything ranging from as small as a project not being delivered on time with
its set of consequences, to something brand damaging will seek application of this concept for us in the
future .