Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (5411)	9/5/2005 12:47:42 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

[These MNCs have lost credibility whatsoever!]--Multinationals watch their (mis)steps miami.com In China, some global companies find themselves in hot water, assailed by litigious consumers and a feisty press. BY TIM JOHNSON Knight Ridder News Service BEIJING - It's been a year of consumer scandals for big global brands in China, and Hagen-Dazs, the specialty ice cream purveyor, faced a doozy earlier this summer. A newspaper report in the southern city of Shenzhen slammed the ice cream maker for keeping a toilet near a production kitchen and for failing to have a sanitation permit. The report, some of it unverified, quickly spread on the Internet. ''I shut down the kitchen. I destroyed all the product. But then it became a national and international issue,'' said Gary Chu, managing director for Greater China for General Mills, the food giant that owns Hagen-Dazs. Try as Chu did, he couldn't quell the bad publicity, even after a public apology. ''It really damaged our reputation,'' Chu said, still simmering over what he claimed were attempts to manipulate the issue to shake money out of the company. CONSUMER CRISES Some of the biggest names in global business -- Heinz, Procter & Gamble, KFC, Colgate-Palmolive and Lipton instant tea -- have faced consumer crises this year, calling attention to the unpredictability of China's consumer market. Confronting sudden attacks in newspapers and on the Internet has become a vital tactic in doing business here. ...