1. Mattel’s global sourcing in China, like all other toy manufacturers, was based on both low-cost labor, and a growing critical mass of factories competitively vying for contract manufacturing business. Do you think the product recalls and product quality problems are separate from or part of pursuing a low-cost country strategy?
2.Whether it is lead paint on toys or defective sliding slides on baby cribs, whose responsibility do you think it is to assure safety the company, like Mattel, or the country, in this case China?
3. Many international trade and development experts argue that China is just now discovering the difference between being a major economic player in global business and its previous peripheral role as a low-cost manufacturing site on the periphery of the world economy. What do you think?