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Procter & Gamble and Disposable Diapers
Introduction
Post, Lawrence & Weber (2002, p.15) argue that business do not operate in a social or political vacuum. In fact most companies operate in a swirl of social, economic, technological and political changes that produces both opportunities. Coronado (2007) states that business is in fact part of society. Coronado further explains that business is an institution of society that affects and is affected by governments and other social actors. Therefore, it is vital to understand the BSG triangle before understanding the business. The BSG triangle is the connections and links between business, government and society. However, each sector (B, S, G) will have different needs and forms of relating with the other sectors. Each is comprised of multiple levels and diverse links. For example, different levels of government, different groups of society and their issues.
Coronado (2007) believes that stakeholders, social responsibility, business ethics and ideological model are vital concepts to understand the BSP complexity. Post et al. (2002) states that stakeholders are those people and people who affect or can be affected by, an organisation’s decisions, policies and operations. Stakeholders are most important factors within society. The notions of social responsibility involves the assumptions that companies responsibility and behaviours must be built upon doing the right things and in the right way. However, business ethics is the way business intentionally applies ethical principles to its conduct and activities, strving to do the right thing by society. Ideology is important concepts to describe the complexity of BSP relation.
The purpose of this case analysis is to identify and analyse the social issues in relation to disposable diapers. This case analysis will further look on environmental impacts by using disposable diapers.
Company Background
The U.S. diaper industry began to evolve following the end of World War II. With the industrial revolution underway, an entrepreneurial mother began a series of diaper inventions beginning with the introduction of plastic covers for cloth diapers and ending with the eventual creation of the first disposable diaper in 1950. When Mary Donovan pitched the concept to the major U.S. paper companies, none were interested in manufacturing the diapers due to cost and perceived lack of practicality. In the 1960’s disposable diapers became widely available for the first time after Procter and Gamble (P&G) introduced Pampers. Procter & Gamble's development of the disposable diaper revolutionized the diapering habits of consumers worldwide and virtually created the category. The introduction of Pampers paved the way for parents to bid farewell to the burdensome cloth diapers that were irritating and uncomfortable to babies (P&G website).
The liberation of women and minority groups continued throughout the 1960s and they entered the workforce in greater numbers. Disposable diapers rose in popularity as society demanded a convenient way of waste disposable for their busy lifestyle.
Society Perspective
Disposable diapers for a new era in society, post war baby boom
During World War II the increase of working mothers brought the need for the "diaper service". Fresh cotton diapers would be delivered on an as-needed basis. This represented a problem as families had to estimate appropriate quantities and store dirty diapers waiting to be picked up, thus a new solution was needed.
According to the Berk (1997), the first mention of the disposable diaper was made by Pauli Ström in Sweden, in 1942. However it was not until the late 1940s that entrepreneurs such as Mary Donavon and Stanley Mason, who patented the world's first disposable diaper, popularised the idea. Society was changing, prior to 1950 women did not represent a large part of the work force, the advent of television and advertisements placed emphasis on style and colour and created a society of individuals that constantly compare themselves to others. Therefore, concepts of consumerism arise, which can be describing as ‘the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption’ (Berk, 1997). However, Disposable diapers reduced household chores for families and allowed them to travel with their babies.
Ideologies behind the Disposable Diapers
Procter & Gamble adopted the Neo- liberalism ideologies when they produce disposable diapers. Even though, P& G knew that there are a lot environmental and social risks from disposable diapers. However, P&G believes the production of Disposable Diapers was right things to do for modern society.
The economic down turn of the 1980s meant women had to enter the workforce and the casualisation of the workforce, to favour businesses interests to be flexible in a volatile environment have also contributed to their popularity. Thus disposable diapers are a necessity for the modern family to reduce time wasted cleaning diapers and allow families the freedom to travel with children. A new trend has emerged with disposable diapers printed with cartoon characters being used by parents to accessorise their babies. Disposable diapers now fulfill an emotional as well as practical need. Disposable diapers represent about 80% of the diaper market, life cycle analysis has been conducted to determine the effects disposable and cloth diapers have on the environment over their respective lifecycles. Opinion is divided. The dilemma associated with such a product is the environmental impact of the diapers weighed against the convenience required by society (Baron, 2006).
Environmental Debate: cloth vs. disposable
Source NSW Environment Protection Authority 1997
[pic]
|Issues |Disposables |Cloth |
|Environmental Impact |Consumes both renewable and non-renewable resources in |Reusable/Recyclable |
| |production |Increased water, energy and detergent usage for laundry |
| |Increased cost for solid waste management |Increased water and air pollution from laundry |
| |Disposable diapers contribute more solid waste to landfill|Problem where water availability/ and air pollution concerns |
| |than cloth diapers |exist |
| |Problem where landfill concerns exist | |
|Health and Safety |Super absorbent materials reduce diaper rash better than |Diaper rash reduced with frequent changes |
| |regular disposables |Increased diaper leakage/contamination |
| |Diaper leakage/contamination reduced with super absorbents|Municipal sewage system handles solid waste |
| | |No landfill problems/contamination |
| |Required in some day care settings |Babies have been found to toilet train faster with cloth |
| |Potential for leachate from landfills with inadequate |diapers |
| |collection systems | |
| |Disposable diapers have been linked to infertility in | |
| |males due to increased temperature in crotch | |
|Cost and Convenience |More convenient for dual career couples |Less convenient dirty diaper has to be carried around |
| |Higher purchase cost |Low purchase cost |
| | |Time and money cost for laundering |
Social action
Consumer activist organisations such as Clean Air Council, Sierra Club, Environmental Defence Fund, Waste Information Network, Women’s Environmental Network have encouraged government policy makers to introduce legislation to restrict the use of disposable diapers by taxing disposable diapers, creating tax incentives for reusable diapers, and even banning the sale of disposable diapers i.e. Nebraska. The National Association of Diaper Services an organisation that distributes and collects cloth diapers has recorded a 38.5% increase in use as families turn to cloth diapers. There is a division in society with many people continuing to use disposable diapers as they argue that the results are inconclusive. Others claim the moral high ground by converting to cloth and biodegradable. There is debate about the tactics used by Procter and Gamble in their campaign to inform consumers about their products they crossed into advertising showing a biased view.
Main Issues of Disposable Diapers
Disposables and Public Health & Landfill Concerns (environmental issues)
According to Caldwell (2006), about 5 million tons of untreated body excrement, which carry over 100 intestinal viruses, is brought to landfills via disposables diapers. This may contribute to groundwater contamination and attract insects that carry and transmit diseases. In 1990, 18 billion disposables were thrown into United States landfills. Is it wise to use 3.4 billion gallons of oil and over 250,000 trees a year to manufacture disposables that end up in our already overburdened landfills. These disposable diapers are not readily biodegradable.
Inaccurate and Misleading Information from Disposables Manufacturers
It's the late 1980’s; people are becoming concerned about the environment. Disposables are on the decline. The disposables manufacturers fight back. Articles and advertisements say disposables are OK. Many mothers, glad to hear that and relieved of guilt, switch to disposables. Disposables manufacturers say energy usage is the same for cloth or disposables, but the fact is that throwaways use five times more energy than reusable ( Caldwell, 2004)
Raw materials
Non-woven materials, which are used by Kimberly-Clark, use polypropylene as a principal raw material. The prices for polypropylene have been increasing and are likely to result in an extra burden of $25million for the company. Kimberly-Clark’s manufacturing facilities use natural gas and petroleum-based fuels. Moreover, the technology used by Kimberly-Clark requires 40% more natural gas than the conventional ’wet press’ technology. Oil and natural gas prices have been rising in the last few years. This will increase the cost of producing diapers which will be passed on to society this may force society to reconsider cloth diapers or society might have to pay more money for disposable diapers.
Legal
Taxes invoked on disposable diapers will cause divisions in society as those people that use reusable diapers may feel resentment towards those that continue to use disposable diapers.
Social
The rise of the consumer activist that is networked via the worldwide web has increased peoples awareness of the environmental and social impact humans are having all over the world. This increased awareness has created societies that wish to minimise their foot prints on the world these empowered consumers may refuse to purchase non biodegradable diapers altogether.
Conflict and Ethical Dilemmas
Business’s purpose is to satisfy the needs and wants of society their argument is “their only doing their job”, preservation of the environment will force consumers to use cloth diapers against their will. What about other users of diapers such as people suffering from incontinence, women who are pregnant and must urinate very frequently, and urgently, people who are bedridden or recovering from surgery, people who are disabled and sometimes confined to a wheelchair or paralysed. These minority groups will suffer for the majority denying them quality of life. Also the many people that derive their income from the industry will lose their jobs. Is environmental sustainability more important then our consumer lifestyle? This is biggest questions of ethical dilemmas.
Conclusion
Disposable takes more raw materials to make them, and they are the third largest source of solid waste. Although disposable diapers are advertised as biodegradable, the lack of oxygen in landfills means disposable diapers can take a long time to break down. The production of disposable diapers consumes an excessive amount of resources and energy and disposables take up two percent of landfill space, adding 2.8 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper to landfills annually. Besides filling diminishing landfill space, disposable diapers endanger health and the environment, especially the health of sanitation workers.
References
Baron, D. (2006), ‘Proctor & Gamble and Disposable Diapers’, Business and its Environment, Pearson, New Jersey, pp. 397-400.
Berk, L. (1997), The Diaper Debate: Cloths vs. Disposables [Online]. Available: http://www.perc.ca/waste-line/articles/diaper.html , [Accessed 7 April, 2008].
Caldwell, G. (2006), Cloths vs. Disposable Diapers, [Online], Available: www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/diaper2z.html , [ Accessed 31 March, 2008]
Coronado, G. (ed.) (2006), ‘Business Society and Policy Book of Readings’, University of Western Sydney.
Environment Protection Authority ( 1997), Issues in Society, distributed pamphlets in NSW.
Kimberly Clark Australia, [online] Available: http://www.kca.com.au, [Accessed 10 April 2006].
Post, J.E., Lawrence, A.T. & Weber, J. (2002), ‘Business and Society: Corporate Strategy , Public Policy, Ethics, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, USA.
Procter and Gamble, [online], Available: http://www.pg.com, [Accessed 10 April 2008].
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