In this current economic climate it is important for a company to keep in the public's good graces. A successful company must maintain a positive image to all their stakeholders both in the good times and bad. No matter how successful a company, it is pretty much inevitable that some sort of calamity will pop up. In such cases it is imperative that a contingency plan is in place, a plan of action to guide a said company into making not only monetarily based decision but also ethical ones. Essentially when a situation of an ethical nature arises the true "colors" of a company become apparent. In the case of Nutritional Foods and the natural whole food industry where unpasteurized products are the norm safety is a main concern. Customers, as well as all stakeholders involved, expect the utmost safety in the processing of their product, a situation such as rampant food poisoning, can sway a customer to stay away for good. Which in turn hurts the companies' bottom line, one can see how the ethical decisions a company makes during such incident can affect the public's perception. Notional Foods faces such a situation and the way they react to the possible food poisoning cases will determine the success or failure of the company. .
Facts Summary .
A successful company such as Nutritional Foods faces a grisly situation when reports came in that their product might be the cause of possible food poisoning. Reports from two county health departments noted that there was a possible link between food poisoning and products distributed by nutritional Foods. This disturbing news prompted the dispatching of two managers to the counties where the problems were reported. Two additional managers were dispatched when a startling thirds and fourth case were reported. Although exact numbers were not available the county health official were all but certain that tainted Nutritional Food products were responsible for the food poisoning cases.