Campbell‘s Soup Company known as the world’s largest soup maker is going to close two of its plants in the U.S. due to a change in consumer’s lifestyle. This is to say, they prefer fresh and organic products.

Campbell’s canned soup consumption has fallen to 13% when compared to a decade ago and also market shares have fallen from 67% to 53%. This is because of the rise of new technologies like pouches and tubs, and increased competitions  at supermarket shelves. In the 1970s there were only 5000 products but right now there are 50,000 similar products. So consumers have been given many other products to choose from besides Campbell’s.

This is very similar to the issue that we looked at in class the “Telus” case because the causes are the same for Campbell’s situation. Campbell’s is becoming more unattractive to consumers because of increased substitutes like fresh soups or pre-packaged soup ingredients which are easily found in supermarkets like T&T. Increased rivalries like Healthy Choice, Progresso,TrueSoups by Heinz in which these companies are also providing consumers with similar products. So, these are the reasons why Campbell’s is losing its attractiveness compared to the past.

Tainted bean-sprouts discovered in Liaoning province in Northeast China in 2011, three years after the milk scandal in 2008.

According to the Xinhua News, six people have been arrested and sentenced to jail after producing and selling tainted bean-sprouts. They produced these bean-sprouts by adding toxic fertilizers like urea(a toxic chemical)and enrofloxacin(an antibiotic)to maximize their productions. Since the two fertilizers  were toxic and could harm people, they were not allowed to be used in Chinese agriculture.

The business ethical issue behind this event is that these six people, which are the producers violate the business value basis of being a responsible citizen. They neglect the benefits of the society in which they only care about making more profit. They do not even consider the harmfulness of the toxic chemicals that will affect consumers. Also, they are acting against the law of China in which they use banned chemicals to produce agricultural products and violate the business ethic of acting and selling honestly to consumers.

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