The article discusses on Ikea regretting some of its suppliers for using political prisoners as forced labor in communist East Germany. In the article, Ikea shows great fear and impact of the negative news on the company reputation and sales. But, they reacted well by apologizing, showing the willingness to accept legal action and even take proactive measurement by financially supporting the investigation.
( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20356945 )
Ikea, a leading furniture producer, has been showing a lot of commitment in this accusation and has been trying to solve things promptly. The reason of it is obvious as they do not want any bad news to taint their brand name. Having the tag of “using political prisoners as forced labor especially in communist country” associated with their brand would definitely chase away some of their customers. But, the question here is, “seeking furniture for your house, does the quality of the furniture matters more or the brand name of the furniture matters more?”
Corporate Social Responsibility is a term that is amplified by governments and consumers as the awareness of destruction by behavior of certain corporate on the economy is surging in the society. Today, people emphasize on ethics of corporate in dealing the daily tasks. But, in certain cases, does a bad ethic of a company affect the quality of the production? And I must admit, not all of them. Nike, Adidas and Puma a world-known brand, but they are reported of using child labor which is not an ethical method of production. Still, you cannot deny that the quality of their clothes is way better than ample of brands.
So, when choosing a product, the brand of a product or the quality of a product will be your first criteria?