The Student Motor Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Student Motor Company - Case Study Example In order to regain market prominence, the Student Motor Company launched a subcompact car Zinger. The concept of Zinger was approved and the study was conducted under the supervision of the management to maintain the code of ethics of the business. The research and development and preproduction testing of the automobile usually take 43 months but for Zinger it was just above 24 months. As Zinger was a rush project, design was given more importance than the mechanical aspects which is the major concern of the manufacturing firm. This act of the management demonstrated a lack of research and ignorance of quality. The crash test of Zinger displayed few issues which were to be resolved by the management for the safety of the people. It was noticeable that a moving barrier at 21 miles per hour caused the fuel neck to be torn from the tank which caused fuel leakage. This spilled fuel could enter the driver’s chamber causing fire to ignite, this was because of defect in the engineeri ng design. The crash test demonstrated that the gasoline tank can cause fire and turn the car into flames causing damage to the society. Moreover, the Zinger was not meeting the standard of emission which would pollute the environment and cause severe damage. The company did not follow the ethical practice of the business as it launched the product in the market with manufacturing defeats. The director of the company claimed that the improved design with more safety standards would increase the cost of the car and would not be able to meet the basic requirements of the people. The management knew the facts that the launch of the car could cause death and have a negative effect on the society but to regain its market share it launched Zinger with the lingering defeats. This was an unethical practice followed by the company which caused loss of life and severe damage to the individual in the car due to the fire (Fall 1-4). The stakeholders of the manufacturing firm are Mr. I.M.Good, t he Vice President of Car Engineering, Mrs. Lovely the group Vice President of the car engineering and Student Motor’s Product Planning Committee member. The production of the Zinger and the fault were known by the committee member; hence the code of ethics was not followed by the company (Fall 1-4). QUESTION 2 The ethical issues faced by the company created a negative impact in the market. The ethical issues faced by the company could have been resolved by following the basic ethics of the business. The first aspect which the company could have done was to focus more on the research and development of the subcompact car Zinger, before launching it in the market. Furthermore, the design should not have been the main area of concern but the technicality should have been the main focus. The committee member could have stopped the production of the car and stalled its sale in the market, when the preproduction test displayed several issues which could cause death. If the company would have used their ethics and sense of responsibility and stopped the manufacturing of the defective products, the life of succumbed person could have been saved. The management was aware of the consequences of the Zinger car but did not take any preventive measures to stop such unethical practices. The second ethical alternative could have been to maintain the standard of emission as indicated by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The maintenance of the emission level is the responsibility of the manufacturer. The company violated the rule and launched the car without maintaining the standard. This act was a fraudulent act from the management point of view as the people would get to know about the emission after a year. The maintenance