The Sanlu Group Corporate Social Responsibility In early 2008 there were many reports of children experiencing acute urinary problems and kidney failures after consuming dairy products from the Sanlu Group who are a well-known Chinese dairy products manufacturer.
The source of the problem was discovered to be a melamine contamination of milk in Sanlu?s products and formulas. Melamine, an organic base, was added to the milk in order to cause it to appear to have higher protein content.
Initially, Sanlu began compensating suffering families with reimbursements in cash and dairy product credit to hush threats of lawsuit and bad publicity.
However, many families refused the offers of bribery and joined groups to lobby for governmental punishment of Sanlu?s action. Unfortunately, with the
preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the government instead forced the media to silence the scandal until the conclusion of the international event.
Meanwhile, Sanlu began suffering the repercussions of massive recalls, shareholder write-offs, and customer complaints. In late January of 2009, Sanlu?s
executives and those found responsible for the melamine contamination were finally put on trial. However, the delays in addressing the issue and cover-ups by the Chinese government have caused an international uproar.
BLOG 9: Conduct a stakeholder analysis and discuss the effects of the scandal on Sanlu?s primary and secondary stakeholders as well as suggest a solution for
minimizing the damage.
Qs 1. Who are the Primary Stakeholders and Secondary Stakeholders in the above case?
Qs 2. Who do you think is the most important stakeholder and Why?
Qs 3. Write a letter to the most important stakeholder to apologize and thus try to control the damage to the brand?s reputation.
Qs 4. What can you do to ensure continued stakeholder engagement after this disastrous happening?
