Chinas Milk Industry - Research Proposal Example

China’s Milk Scandal Name: Institution: Literature Review As a result of insecurity in china’s milk industry caused by the milk scandal of September 2008, most Chinese people have resorted in buying milk from abroad. The milk industry of china was greatly affected by the milk scandal of September 2008, where melamine was found in milk food product One of China’s greatest food crisis happened in the summer of 2008 after suppliers of milk food products were discovered to be adding melamine in their supplies so as to boost the level of proteins in the milk. This led to the government putting in place new measures and policies to deal with the issue. This paper looks into the effects of the scandal, the policies adapted by the government in regard to this scandal and the effects it had on the dairy farmers. This incidence affected thousands of children who became sick with and some reported cases of death. Despite the government implementing new regulations and closing down plants and collection points, the demand for the milk products decreased drastically as the number of people consuming the milk products went down as well. According to Huang et al (2010), the government ought to have approached the crisis in a different manner though, this is by putting in place regulations that would govern the purchase and supply of milk in addition to upgrading the collection centers, creating and improving the surrounding in which production takes place and compensating small farmers of dairy products whom the milk industry in china heavily relies on, for the losses they incurred by dumping their products. Due to the dented confidence of the consumers, production fell rapidly between 2008 and 2009. In its efforts to streamline the industry, the government undertook various measures which included; setting up testing standards that were to be adhered to country wide and training managers at collection centers to ensure the procurement was done in the right manner Huang et al (2011). Collection centers were also offered an inspection officer who would oversee the marketing of the products between producers and the processors. The government also through its agencies afforded loans to collection centers so as to upgrade their stations and enhance quality of the milk products. According to Li et al 2010 however, the marketing policies put in place disrupted the supply as some stations were closed down for the renovations. It however served to bolster the processing to enhance quality and safety of the milk products from the overwhelming number of small dairy farmers that were significant to the milk production in china. Journal Article Critique This section is a critique of the Article titled Business ethics reflected in the Sanlu Milk incident, from the International journal of business and management, volume 4, issue number 9 in September 2009 by Meiying Song. The article is aimed at analyzing what led to the Sanlu Milk incident in relation to the theories of business ethics. In expounding the incident that led to the death and complications cases from the melamine in the milk products, the author of this article does not provide a detailed explanation as to the events that transpired during the incidence. The author does not provide any detailed explanation as to the reasons behind the addition of melamine. as indicated by Huang et al (2010) it was meant to boost the proteins content in the milk. The article Meiying (2009) indicates that, the party central committee in an effort to solve the incident undertook much directorial and legal action to streamline the industry. However, the author does not go on to expound on the measures taken by the committee or the government in particular to address this issue. According to Huang et al (2011), the government undertook various measures including implementation of new regulations and policies to govern the milk industry. These measures also included the upgrading and renovating of the collection centers in addition to training the managers of these centers and instilling inspection officers, who would see to it that the set rules were followed to enhance quality and safety of the milk products. The author of the article looks to relate the actions that led to the incidence with the theories of business ethics. Despite clearly bringing out the way business are supposed to conduct themselves morally with respect to satisfying customer requirements, the author does not bring out the manner in which the Sanlu milk incident was caused as a result of non adherence or ignorance of business ethics that should guide the conduct of any sort of business. In his explanation, the author ought to have pointed out how the incidence was caused by this ignorance or how it could have been avoided were these business ethics observed. The various business ethics theories outlined in the article show the expectations placed on enterprises in regard to their ethical conduct and how they affect businesses. The author should have explained how application of these theories could have been helpful in preventing the incidence or what should be done to ensure that these theories are applied in practice in China’s milk industry. The Article overemphasizes on the business ethics theories with respect to the Sanlu milk incidence and how they have been applied or not. The author should have paid more attention and focused on the effects of the incident to the Milk industry of china, including the small dairy farmers. As noted by Li et al (2010), this incidence led to a rapid drop in milk production in china and consumer consumption of the product produced locally dropped by a big margin with some producers dumping their milk due to lack of market. The author of the article analyses the problem based on the business ethics theory and assumes that the incidence was as a result of bad morals and poor ethics with respect to the business. As much as most of the business ethics were not observed, the incidence was also as a result of poor supervision and implementation of standards and policies for ensuring safety and quality of the milk products. Despite not putting into consideration other factors that could have led to the incidence apart from ethics, the article expounds on how failure to observe these ethics, undermines the authority and rights of consumers through exploitation by businessmen with the aim of maximizing profits. References Huang, J., Wu, Y., Yang, Z., Rozelle, S., Fabiosa, J., Dong, F., 2010. Farmer participation, processing, and the rise of dairy production in Greater Beijing, P.R. China. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 58 (3), 321–342. Huang, J., Wang, X., Zhi, H., Huang, Z., Rozelle, S., 2011. Subsidies and distortions in China’s agriculture: evidence from producer-level data. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 55, 53–71. Li, S., Zhang, W., Liu, Y., Zhou, X., & Cao, Z., 2010. Review and prospects of China’s dairy since 2009 Chinese Journal of Animal Science 46 (2), 35–40 Meiying, S. 2009. Business Ethics Reflected in Sanlu Milk Incident. International journal of Business and management. Read More