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Product cover image for The Hershey Company: Broken Pledge to Stop Using Child Labour

The Hershey Company: Broken Pledge to Stop Using Child Labour

Bertrand Guillotin

Product #:W25254
Supplier:Ivey/Temple
Discipline:International Business, Sustainability
Setting:Côte D'Ivoire, Ghana, United States, 2021
Details:Case (PDF) • 15 pages • 2021-12-20

Subjects:

Business managementLeadership and managing peopleInternational businessManagement

Industries:

Fabrication and manufacturing

Geography:

AfricaNorth AmericaGhanaUnited States
Your Price:$9.71

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Michele Buck became the first woman president and chief executive officer of the Hershey Company (Hershey) in 2017 and was elected as chair of the board in 2019. Now, in 2021, she was leading a company that was facing supply chain and legal challenges. Although Hershey was dedicated to bringing “goodness to the world,” the company was accused of having broken its 2001 pledge to uproot child labour from its cocoa supply chain. Global pressure for greater supply chain transparency and compliance with human rights increased throughout 2020, and in 2021, Hershey became a defendant in a US federal class-action lawsuit alleging harms caused by child labour. With an annual shareholders’ meeting pending on May 17, 2021, Buck had to decide how to mitigate the risks and deal with potential fines of up to US$500 million.

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for use in business courses such as global strategy, supply chain management, public relations management, and corporate social responsibility at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as in a leadership seminar. Working through the case and assignment questions will give students the opportunity to do the following:
  • Identify some of the complex realities associated with international business and supply chains.
  • Understand a firm’s dependence on a few countries producing the key ingredient for its products and the implications for that firm’s reputation.
  • Analyze the level of corporate responsibility and supply chain control (or lack thereof) that a firm has in a global business environment.
  • Evaluate the impact of leadership decisions.
  • Assess how leadership and societal changes (e.g., changes in expectations and laws pertaining to supply chain transparency and the respect of human rights) can impact a firm.
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Case Study: The Hershey Company: Broken Pledge to Stop Using Child Labour (English version) | Ivey Publishing