Mattel . www.covermix.com

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. Its imports include Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. It was founded in 1945 by Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler (hence the name "matt-el"). Handler's wife Ruth Handler would later become president and is credited with establishing the Barbie product line for the company in 1959. Today the Barbie line is responsible for more than 80% of Mattel's profits. In 2007, Mattel voluntarily issued major recalls of its imports (see 2007 Product recalls section). Mattel closed its last American factory, originally part of the Fisher-Price division, in 2002.

Corporate governance

Corporate leadership

Board of directors

Corporate responsibility

Mattel rolled out its Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) in 1997, designed to set safe and fair treatment of employees. Mattel created an independent monitoring programme for GMP compliance to police the principles throughout its supply chain, publishing results since 1998. These principles formed the benchmark of corporate responsibility reporting for the company in years to come. In 2003, Mattel issues its first Global Reporting Initiative report to publicly assess the success of the GMP and commit to improvements. Simultaneous to this report, Mattel issued their 2004 Corporate Responsibility report, the first to be issued by a toy company. As of 2007, no other toy company has issued a public Corporate Social Responsibility report. From both the 2004 and 2007 reports, although clear majority percentages of Mattel-owned facilities are regularly audited, it can be seen that Mattel has room to expand its supply chain auditing (page 13 of the 2007 report commits Mattel to increasing auditing to 30% of their third party suppliers, for example). Following the high-profile recalls of 2007, Mattel appointed Geoff Massingberd as Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, taking charge of developing and implementing worldwide programs to underscore Mattel’s commitment to business integrity, reporting directly to the CEO.

The Learning Company acquisition

In May 1999, at the height of the Dot.com bubble Mattel acquired The Learning Company for $3.5 billion in stock or 4.5 times annual sales. The Learning Company was considered at the time one of the leading entertaiment and educational software companies, owner of such titles as Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, Myst, Riven and National Geographic but had in 1997 accumulated losses of $475 million. Mattel thought that this acquisition would help business diversification by giving the company a leading position in the market of consumer software. Mattel CEO Jill Barad expected to have direct internet sales for all Mattel's toys and predicted that Mattel sales over the Internet would reach $1 billion in a few years.

In third quarter of 1999, Mattel expected The Learning Company to post $50 million in profits but in reality it posted losses of $105 million, depite this CEO Jill Barad continued optmistic. Things got worse on the fourth quarter, as The Learning Company's pre-tax losses reached $183 million. For the year The Learning Company's pre-taxes losses were $206 million, on revenues of $750 million. The Learning Company's losses depressed Mattel's 1999 result, Mattel posted a $82 million net loss compared to a $206 million net income in 1998. Mattel also warned that it would take a revamping charge of $75 million to $100 million in the first quarter of 2000 because of The Learning Company.

By 2000, Mattel was losing $1.5 million a day with The Learning Company, and Mattel's stock price (which reached a high of $45 in March 1998) traded at $11 in February 2000. Under pressure on February 3rd Mattel's CEO Jill Barad resigned but received a $50 million severance package. In April Mattel announced that it was selling The Learning Company, analysts predicted that The Learning Company could be sold for $400 million, then for $200 million. In the end, in October, The Learning Company was sold to Gores Technology for nothing other than a percentage of The Learning Company's future profits. In addition Mattel fired 10% of its workforce to further cut costs. As a result of this restructuring Mattel posted a net loss of $430 million for the year 2000.

2007 product recalls

On August 2, 2007, Mattel's Fisher-Price subsidiary recalled almost a million Chinese-made toys, including Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys, because of potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint.

In worst cases, Mattel toys' lead in paint was found to be 180 times the limit. The paint on the toys was up to 11% lead, or 110,000 parts per million. U.S. Federal law allows just 0.06% lead, or 600 parts per million. Children who suck on or ingest toys or jewelry with high lead content may be poisoned, which can lead to learning and behavior problems, even death in some cases.

On August 14, 2007, Mattel recalled over 18 million products because it was possible that they could pose a danger to children due to the use of strong magnets that may detach. Strong small magnets could be dangerous to the children if two or more were ingested, attracting each other in the intestines and causing damage. Some instances were reported. A child swallowed a Polly Pocket toy magnet and had to undergo a surgery. The products were manufactured in China. At the time of the recall, none of the American or European safety legislation and standards addressed the specific hazard of strong magnets. Some of the products had been available in U.S. stores since 2003, during which time Mattel did not consider them harmful enough to warrant a recall. After incidents with similar magnetic toy parts being swallowed, causing perforation of the intestines, Mattel re-wrote its policy on magnets, finally issuing this recall in August 2007.

Recalled items included die-cast Cars character, Sarge, made between May and July 2007, found to have been manufactured using paint containing higher than acceptable levels of lead (436,000 recalled globally), 7.1 million Polly Pocket toys produced before November 2006; 600,000 Barbie and Tanner Playsets; 1 million Doggie Daycare; Shonen Jump's One Piece; and thousands of Batman Manga toys due to exposed magnets. 18.2 million items were recalled in total.

Zhang Shuhong, co-owner of the Lee Der Toy Company, which had made a number of toys for Mattel, committed suicide by hanging himself at one of his company's factories in Foshan on August 11, 2007, according to authorities. In the factory's loading bay, the BBC's Quentin Somerville found boxes of toys made for Mattel and Fisher-Price going nowhere. The Lee Der business was closing for good.

On September 4, 2007, Mattel recalled a further 530,000 affected toys in the United States — and 318,000 outside the United States — after its intensive testing found that the Chinese-made products contained levels of lead in painted parts that were above the acceptable limit set by the company. This third recall in a month included accessories for Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price toys.

Lawsuits

Effect on Mattel

Mattel is now faced with declining market share and flat sales of its core toys. After the recalls have been announced by Mattel toys, some parents are mulling a Mattel toy boycott. Four corporations won Bad Product Awards this year, namely Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Mattel and Takeda. The world federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International (CI) announced the winners of the International Bad Product Awards, to be presented at CI's World Congress in Sydney, Australia, 29 Oct - 1 November 2007.

Fortune magazine rated the recall of Mattel's products (and other problems with Chinese goods) as its 'Dumbest Moment' in business for 2007

Mattel’s response

Mattel has increased audits and testing of all products. In August 2007, CEO Robert Eckert said, “We were let down, and so we let you down,” referring to the three massive product recalls for lead contamination of paint.

On September 21, 2007, Mattel’s Executive Vice-President for worldwide operations, Thomas Debrowski, travelled to Beijing. In a meeting with China’s product safety chief, Li Chanjiang, Debrowski took full responsibility for the magnet recalls and said that, “vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China’s manufacturers.” Reading a prepared text, he continued, “Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of your customers who received the toys.”

Partnerships

In March of 2005 Mattel partnered with Oasys Mobile to extend their market into the mobile field. The partnership was announced on March 16, 2005 and gave Oasys Mobile the right to produce games on such licenses as UNO, Ker Plunk!, Toss Across, and Rock'em Sock'em Robots. Since then the two have worked together to add such licenses as the Barbie, Magic 8 Ball and Max Steel IPs to Oasys' portfolio. These subsequent parnerships also extended the territories that they could market their products in. The new markets included, Japan and Taiwan for the Barbie license and Japan, China, Korea, India, and the Philippines for the UNO license.

Products

Toys

Games

Video game consoles and handheld electronic games

In 2008 Mattel was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for pioneering the development of handheld games with its Mattel Electronics sports titles Football and Auto Race, both published in the late 1970's..

Mattel in popular culture

References

^ http://www.mattel.com/about_us/Corp_Responsibility/GMPoverview.pdf
^ GRI - Home Page
^ Mattel - About Us - Corporate Responsibility
^ 1057488.CSR_CVR.r5 (Page 1)
^ Mattel - About Us - Corporate Responsibility - Report
^ http://www.mattel.com/about_us/Corp_Responsibility/Mattel_07GCReport.pdf
^ Mattel, Inc.: Investor Relations
^ Top 50 Deals in L.A - mergers and acquisitions in 2000 | Los Angeles Business Journal | Find Articles at BNET.com
^ http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/2002-1-0072.pdf
^ Barbie pulls Carmen Sandiego | The Register
^ ^a ^b Dignan, Larry. "Mattel/The Learning Co. in $3.8B merger", ZDNet news, 1998-12-14. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
^ Mattel Learns Hard Lesson With Learning Co
^ http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/2002-1-0072.pdf
^ MATTEL INC /DE/ - MAT Unscheduled Material Events (8-K) EXHIBIT 99.0
^ Mattel Learns Hard Lesson With Learning Co
^ MATTEL INC /DE/ - MAT Unscheduled Material Events (8-K) EXHIBIT 99.0
^ Chief of Mattel Steps Down After Reporting Loss in 1999 - New York Times
^ Technology Briefing: Software; Former Mattel Learning Company Unit Improves - New York Times
^ Chief of Mattel Steps Down After Reporting Loss in 1999 - New York Times
^ Mattel To Sell Learning Co
^ Top 50 Deals in L.A - mergers and acquisitions in 2000 | Los Angeles Business Journal | Find Articles at BNET.com
^ Mattel To Sell Learning Co
^ Mattel To Sell Learning Co
^ http://www.shareholder.com/mattel/downloads/Mattel_Inc_200_A_R.pdf
^ "Fisher-Price Recalls Licensed Character Toys Due To Lead Poisoning Hazard"
^ Mattel to recall more Chinese-made toys
^ "lead 180 times the limit"
^ Mattel to announce toy recall
^ Mattel to announce toy recall
^ Chinese toy boss 'kills himself'
^ Brand China' at risk after toy recall – Quentin Somerville, BBC News. 15 August 2007. Accessed: 2007-09-05.
^ Mattel corporate website. 4 September 2007. Accessed: 2007-09-05.
^ Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Files Suit Against Mattel, Inc. for Selling Toys Covered in Lead Paint -- MAT
^ "Lawsuit Seeks Lead Tests "
^ Lawsuit Filed against Mattel in Polly Pocket Recall ]
^ Barbie loses battle over bimbo image. BBC News (25 July 2002). Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
^ Small Special Education Company Battles Mattel Over Right to Use the Words "AND SAY" on Its Products. Mass Media Distribution Wire (08 May 2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
^ Mattel's "Spin" - Blame Small Special Education Company Super Duper - They Made Us Sue Them. Mass Media Distribution Wire (19 May 2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
^ "Bad Product Awards"
^ See also
- 2007 Chinese export recalls
- Toy
- Toy safety
External links
- American Girl Dolls
- Mattel's Bob Eckert's video apology and list of recalled toys
- ProductRecallWatch.com aggregates and categorizes recall information from multiple sources
- American Girl
- Mattel
- Fisher-Price
- Hot Wheels
- NicholsCapGuns.com The largest cap gun website which also features Mattel cap guns.
- SonarSubHunt.com The Sonar Sub Hunt Web Page.
- barbie.com
- radicagames
- The Action Figure Archive: Mattel
- Matchbox Toys
- Intellivision Lives
- Unsafe Chinese Products Page. Updated frequently as new reports of recalls are published. Contains links to specific information and photographs of recalled products at the Web site of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and in media reports.

Mattel

Barbie B-Smart Learning Laptop

Gli albori: Intellivision

Barbie Girls MP3 Player - Green

Hybrid Model at FAME Show