LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mattel: Companys
built 202 days ago
The world's biggest toymaker, Mattel, has announced its third major recall of Chinese-made products in a month. About three-quarters of a million toys are being recalled because they are decorated with paint containing too much lead, the US company said.
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Mattel made two strategic acquisitions in 1994--those of J.W. Spear & Sons PLC, a British company that owned the international rights to the popular Scrabble games, and Kransco, whose Power Wheels and Wham-O (which included Frisbee and Hula Hoop) brands complemented its ever-growing products list. The next year Mattel became the new licensee of the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, a top-notch addition to the company's large dolls line. Both 1994 and 1995 were record years for the company, with net sales of $4 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively, and net income of $225 million in 1994 and $338 million in 1995. The company ... was looking to the future; it initiated a $72 million restructuring program in 1994 to consolidate manufacturing operations and slash unnecessary corporate expenses.
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Mattel and MIMCO developed approaches to field audits that have met the test of objectivity, integrity and public trust. As Dr. Sethi observes, "The tremendous success of Mattel's independent audit and monitoring system suggests that the idea should be expanded to include other multinationals in a variety of industries who seek guidance in the crucial areas of governance and ethics." ICCA has already been approached by a number of other multinational corporations to develop international codes of conduct or to advise in other issues of corporate citizenship especially as it applies in the international arena. The second company to agree to participate in an auditing program is Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, which operates one of the largest mining operations in the world in the Papua province of Indonesia. Freeport's Board put in place a Social, Employment and Human Rights Policy in 1999. Freeport and its Board now wish to audit how the Policy has been implemented and whether the Board's goals have been realized.
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Mattel is noted for maintaining a very high level of employee morale and pride, even in the midst of industry-wide product recalls. Leadership, integrity and openness have all been cited by employees as the company's ongoing commitment to do the right thing.
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[U]nfortunately, Mattel stumbled badly for much of the 1980s. Many of the company's business acquisitions turned out to be unprofitable and had to be sold. Further, a big slump in video game sales in the early 1980s drove Mattel out of the video game business with a $394 million loss for 1983, putting the company on the edge of bankruptcy. Mattel might have gone under if the New York venture capital firms E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., and Drexel Burnham Lambert had not stepped in with $231 million in 1984 to save the company from the video game debacle. Still, in 1985 the company fell behind Hasbro, Inc. as the world's largest toymaker.
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Euromonitor International's company profile, Mattel Inc offers detailed strategic analysis of the company's business, examining its performance in the toys and games market. The report examines company shares by region and sector, brand portfolio and new product developments, market and distribution strategies, challenges from the competition and future prospects. Use it to understand opportunities and threats facing the business and the factors driving success .
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