Reference no: EM132271292
READ and RESPOND to the assigned questions included below. Responses should be 1 paragraph (50-75 words) in length per each question.
Reflection Questions:
Describe the ethical dilemma facing the light bulb manufacturers of the early 1900s?
How does the scenario detailed in the reading relate to the topics covered in chapter 11 (Product, branding, and packaging decisions)?
“The Deals That Made the World: Reckless Ambition, Backroom Negotiations, and the Hidden Truths of Business” by Jacques Peretti.
“THE GREAT LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY
The light bulbs that illuminate our homes, offices, and streets come with a shelf-life and that's thanks to a secret cartel deal made by the electric industry in the early 20th century, Peretti reveals.
The Centennial Bulb, known as the world's longest-lasting light bulb, was created in 1901 and has continued to burn for 117 years. A seemingly everlasting light, it was the ideal product to the consumer, but quickly recognized as a threat for business. In fact, this led the five biggest light bulb manufacturers on earth - including America's General Electric - to gather in Geneva in 1932 and create a secret cartel known as Phoebus, which stopped anyone from creating a light bulb that lasts more than six months.
Details of the clandestine meeting were unearthed after historian Gunter Hess found documents strewn across the floor at the headquarters of the Osram Electrical Company in East Berlin. 'William Meinhardt, the CEO of Osram, and Anton Philips, the founder of Dutch electrical giant now called Philips Electronics...wanted to systematize obsolescence, imposing a global policy on the life-span of a light bulb and putting any company that did not follow their rules out of business,' Peretti writes.
But this approach did not stop at light bulbs, the cartel would soon impose a global policy that would put an expiration date on refrigerators and ovens. Phoebus - made up of AE from Britain, Compagnie des Lampes from France, GE Sociedad Anonyma of Brazil, China's General Edison, Lamparas Electricas from Mexico, and Tokyo Electric, put a stop to thousands of years of durable goods and slapped electrical products with lifespans, reverse-engineering an object 'from the moment it should break, backward.'
Documents revealed a systematic approach to the scheme which included spreadsheets which listed each item on 'a sliding scale of obsolescence,' with each box indicating the product's lifespan. The effort succeeded spectacularly - as built-in obsolescence became standard for virtually every product.”