MPA 605
Dr. Kittredge
Assignment 3.1
Case 4.3. LONG-TERM COMPLEXITIES IN THE TAINTED ODWALLA APPLE JUICE CRISIS
Summary:
Odwalla is one of the many juice companies that tailor their products to consumers who are health conscious consumers. On October 30, 1996, over sixty children became ill, including one fatality due to an E. coli outbreak from unpasteurized apple juice. Corrective action was immediately taken by Odwalla’s staff. Public apologies, compensations and a website was created dedicated to the crisis. In an effort to recover, Odwalla implemented a production system called flash pasteurization. This technique would destroy E.coli bacteria while maintaining flavor and nutritional value.
This method became the norm in the juice industry and stores demanded that other companies implemented this system, which caused consumers to increase prices on their products. …show more content…
Although, Odwalla’s decision to focus mainly on the customer and the safety of their product, unfortunately, they will scrutinized in the end for not taking the stakeholders into consideration. The ultimate goal for Odwalla was the recovery process and ensuring that their customers were the focal point of the resolution, which in my opinion does not seem to be a bad approach. Odwalla’s knew that it would be difficult consulting with its stakeholders verses making a decision that did not involve their input. Is this the correct way of handling a crisis? No and yes, my viewpoints are conflicting amongst the consumer and the stakeholder. The E.Coli outbreak had a great impact on both the consumer and the stakeholder. It was imperative that Odwalla focused mainly on the consumer because the consumer is the main reason while Odwalla’s company is still in business despite the stakeholder’s portion of investment. It’s pretty simple, the consumer and Odwalla’s product can be compared to the supply/demand