(Tiểu luận) topic biti’s scandal campaign

DUY TAN UNIVERSITY  - GROUP PROJECT CLASS : BUSINESS ETHICS TOPIC : BITI’S SCANDAL CAMPAIGN LECTURER : DR.REGINA KALANGEG PUMA-AT GROUP MEMBER ID CLASS Trần Mai Hương 28204627757 DTE 201 SA Vũ Thị Xuân Mỹ 28201152200 DTE 201 SA Nguyễn Thạch Thảo 28206606140 DTE 201 SA Đa Nang, August 7th ,2023 BITI’S SCANDAL CAMPAIGN Overview of Biti's Binh Tien Consumer Goods Company, known as Biti's for short, is in the top tier of footwear company in Vietnam, established in 1982 in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City Initially, there were two small manufacturing complexes called Binh Tien and Van Thanh with only 20 employees In 1986, the two groups merged to form Binh Tien Rubber Cooperative company which operated in District 6, specializing in the production of high-quality sandals and shoes After 29 years of operation, it has become a company with member units: Biti's and Dona Biti's Currently, the company has business centers, branches and more than 4000 agents all over the country Biti's products have been presented in more than 40 countries and regions around the world The company's products have become the main products of Ho Chi Minh City and have been in the Top 10 for 14 consecutive years which was highly voted by consumers Biti's footwear products are divided into categories, including: foam sandals, sporty sandals, fashionable leather, sporty shoes, western shoes, medical sandals, slip-on shoes, wooden clogs In general, consumers have such positive comments about the quality of Biti's products Biti's products are of good quality and highly durable However, the designs are not very appreciated Currently, over 70% of Biti's products are consumed in the domestic market and 30% is for export Many products have been favored by customers in fastidious markets such as: UK, USA, France Particularly in the Chinese market, Biti's has developed more than 20 agent stores and more than 350 retail stores, mostly in the western - southern provinces of China such as: Chongqing, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei , presented in both Beijing and Shanghai Biti's Ethical Violation On October 10, 2021, Biti's launched a collection called "Blooming Central" (a collaboration with the dance artist Việt Max), with media content honoring the cultural beauty of Central Vietnam, bringing cultural pride to Vietnamese people and all countries in the world Biti's introduces this collection as "creatively invested, diversified in materials and laborious in production" However, as soon as the first images of the "Blooming Central" collection were released on social networking sites, they immediately received negative feedback from customers Specifically, Biti's has made two big mistakes in researching product materials 2.1 Transparency violation Firstly, Biti's was accused of miscommunicating about the origin of the brocade fabric used in the product Biti's side stated that "Blooming Central" is a product that has been carefully researched and produced with a lot of effort However, La Quoc Bao, a Vietnamese international student, currently living in Australia, specializing in researching Vietnamese royal patterns has discovered that the brocade fabric used by Biti's is a popular Chinese material This is a brocade of nylon yarn called "Hai Thuy Giang Nhai " in Hangzhou It is very popular in making low-priced souvenirs This fabric is the most sold material on Taobao Secondly, Biti's has applied patterns such as cloud, water waves and color schemes inspired by Qing Dynasty royal costumes from China in the design Because the media content of Biti's is "inspiration from the pride of Central Vietnam", many customers think of Hue Imperial palace patterns But the folded patch on the back of the shoe is a pattern on the Qing Dynasty royal costume The details are not related to Hue imperial palace art 2.2 Utilitarianism violation The fabric that Biti’s used in the making is originally a "instant noodle" design, machine-woven material with medium quality and low durability The highest price is about 90k vnd /meter or wholesale is 30-50k vnd/ meter However, this fabric has a very high level of identification, just by looking at it, you can immediately know that it is a Chinese product However by using this kind of material, Biti’s can earn more profits That can be understood that the company has put the profit goal above the customers’s benefits 2.3 Prudence violation Secondly, Biti's was also found to have falsely communicated about the brocade patterns on shoes in the Blooming Central collection A group working to speak up for the voice of ethnic minorities in Vietnam has discovered the lack of similarities between embroideries on shoe and the Vietnamese culture The shoes are promoted as “using Tay Nguyen brocade pattern” But when it was carefully studied, this is the weaved brocade called dog paw pattern belonged to Chăm people Conclusion: From two mistakes above, it can be concluded that Biti's has committed an ethical violation in business Biti's behavior is assessed as a violation of product advertising Biti's has falsely advertised the origin of product materials This behavior of enterprises can be considered as intentionally taking products of foreign origin to "turn" into domestic goods Only until it was discovered that this business admitted their lack of materials and details of the brocade fabric on products This unscrupulous business behavior of Biti’s has brought many negative consequences The rights of Vietnamese consumers are seriously affected Social parties inevitably get involved and pose many problems In addition, this event also adversely affects the image of all brands in the industry in general Causes of Biti's dishonest behavior 3.1 Subjective reasons • Unable to find suppliers Biti's leadership stated that the main reason for this incident is their difficulty in finding sources of fabric materials and domestic fabric suppliers Biti's marketing director explained: "The supporting industry in Vietnam is not yet well developed, and both the Leather and Footwear Association and the Vietnamese fashion industry are aware of this Secondly, the product development phase coincided with the fourth outbreak of the pandemic, and the production facilities were located in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai, causing suppliers to close down, which affected product manufacturing." Moreover, Vietnam is located right next to the world's factory, China Importing a large quantity of raw materials from China helps significantly reduce costs as well as offering advantages in terms of convenient transportation, making importing a priority for businesses • Lack of full awareness of the ethnic culture Biti's candidly admitted that the reason for their dishonest behavior was due to their lack of research on the product Biti's explained: "Regarding the origin of the ethnic patterns, Biti's Hunter was truly surprised to discover that the ethnic patterns from the Central Highlands that we are using are derived from the dog's paw pattern of the Chăm people." • Underestimation of the seriousness and consequences of product supply Biti's did not take this issue seriously It can be said that they underestimated Vietnamese consumers and believed that all Vietnamese consumers were too lenient From this deceitful incident, the psychology of consumers was seriously affected This is also an issue with significant repercussions that the company will have to face in the future • Pursuing profits All business activities aim to increase profits for the company Biti's took advantage of the supply source from China to reduce production costs By doing so, the profit on each product would significantly increase It can be seen that if Biti's products were not found to have cheated in their raw materials, it would be one of the items that brings in very high profits for the company Due to the low production costs of raw materials and high selling prices, it received enthusiastic support from those who love Vietnamese culture 3.2 Objective reasons • Covid 19 outbreak and limited supply of raw materials The product idea was invented in the context of a pandemic, which made it difficult to find fabric sources domestically The tense pandemic situation affected the leather and footwear industry, especially in the southern region Therefore, the company chose to import ethnic fabric from China for easy purchasing and cheaper prices compared to other domestic sources By doing this, Biti's could reduce production costs while still selling the product at a high price • Consumer psychology As young people tend to use genuine products, Vietnamese people prefer highquality Vietnamese products Because of this factor, Biti's did not care about the consequences (reputation, impact on the company's development, and profit growth) but only wanted to meet the demands of consumers Moreover, currently, Vietnamese youths are trending towards researching and developing Vietnamese culture Based on this information, Biti's decided to launch the "Blooming Spotlight" collection to stimulate purchases from young consumers At the same time, they released the products into the market early, even without finding a suitable source of raw materials • Inadequate laws The brand has violated the law by disseminating false information about products and services However, Vietnamese laws have not set strict and severe regulations for punishing and admonishing such actions Furthermore, the government will not pay attention to and thoroughly investigate cases related to dishonest advertising unless those cases have caused serious consequences Except for cases that gain public attention and frequent updates from the media, otherwise, the penalties will be light and insufficient to deter businesses • Vietnamese consumers are still forgiving A large portion of Vietnamese consumers not care much about this issue They continue to buy products and quickly accept apologies from the brand This leads to the unethical behavior of businesses and allows them to engage in dishonest business activities Solutions of the company Biti's has posted an apology on their Facebook page and also sent thanks to every person in the Vietnam Pioneer Network And most important, Biti's has given the following solutions to the problem : - Replace the old material by the new brocade fabric which was inspired by Hue culture and art to improve the product, meet the requirements and expectations of Vietnamese consumers - Re-edit all images & information on the media to match the above replacement, within the following 24 hours - The new version that will come to consumers’ hands will be the updated version with different brocade materials and textures (as they said in the section 1) - Biti's will fully support customers who have pre-ordered the old product and want a refund since the new design will no longer be suitable for customers' interests - Biti will continue to maintain the original intention of deducting 100,000 VND from the revenue of each product sold of the collection to contribute to the talent development fund of the Central region, especially for the ethnic Document continues below Discover more from:đức Đạo công việc DTE 201 Trường Đại Học… 199 documents Go to course DTE 201 BG Thi PTU 70 2122- tài liệu tham… Đạo đức côn… 100% (9) Sức khỏe môi trường 10 10 Đạo đức côn… 100% (7) ĐÁP ÁN ÔN TẬP PHÁP LUẬT ĐẠI… Đạo đức côn… 100% (6) TIỂU LUẬN VĂN HĨA 28 TỔ CHỨC Đạo đức cơn… 100% (4) Tài nguyên du lịch 18 zzzzz Đạo đức côn… 100% (4) BÁO CÁO THUỘC minorities Biti’s will keep caring and give more willpower to the resilient NHÓM - Đạo Đức… people of the Central Đạo đức 100% (2) Personal recommendations côn… Firstly, it is necessary that the company carefully invest in product research & the making to avoid creating basic mistakes in cultural knowledge Secondly, Biti's needs to work with the artisans of that community - people who hold and understand their culture better and know how to convey it properly Thirdly, the brand should not focus too much on the profit goal to make advertisements that violate business ethics They must not defraud, and deceive about the origin of products They need to be aware of previous mistakes Lastly, the business has to respect the voice of consumers, be sincere and transparent in business activities POWERPOINT