Virtue ethics will say they failed to accept responsibilities for their actions so they acted irresponsibly. Which is not what a virtuous person would do at all times. Mercedes was supposed to accept the responsibility especially considering the fact that it was a mechanical fault from the factory not an issue caused by the customers’. According to Gallagher, the best way to respond to an angry customer is not to shy away but to stand up to the task and make things easier for them rather than frustrating them. The Mercedes Company in China failed to provide the necessary help needed at that time and was not virtuous. They were also affected by the vice of sloth because they were too lazy to take the time to deal with the customer service issue
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Their greatest problem was that their fame outweighed what their actual product was. They released a defective product into a marketplace that idolizes them for their perfection. Their error was something that also costs many other businesses. “Collectively, the 245 UK companies in the top European 1000 analyzed were found to be leaking €59.5 billion per year in uncollected cash”. (Bielenberg 83) This is an astounding amount of money and it all comes from bad customer service. If Mercedes was able to implement a better plan than what they actually did they could not only save many millions of collectable cash but also make large sums of money of the China “, as the world’s second-largest auto market”(Tan 258). One of the most crucial things that Mercedes needed to understand is where their brand falls in their society. When looking at what a Chinese consumer values in a luxury product one finds that, “Chinese consumers highly value functional benefits, luxury brands particularly emphasize product quality in China by communicating material superiority, technical excellence, and the special care exercised during the manufacturing process”(Zhan 1454). Because of Mercedes steep prices and their marketing it was placed in the realm of luxury product and as such was purchased in mass. Before this incident “Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the Chinese market have exceeded 150,000 in number” (Tan 258). This is a staggering number and was also on the rise. If they had performed their multi car recall and appeased the mass of their consumers earlier they would not have tarnished their brand not only in the Chinese market but the world. If they had just spent the relatively small sum of money to fix the cars and make all of their customers happy not only would they not have hurt their brand but they would also see the continued growth in the Chinese market and have consumers there who were willing to buy again thus making them
Their greatest problem was that their fame outweighed what their actual product was. They released a defective product into a marketplace that idolizes them for their perfection. Their error was something that also costs many other businesses. “Collectively, the 245 UK companies in the top European 1000 analyzed were found to be leaking €59.5 billion per year in uncollected cash”. (Bielenberg 83) This is an astounding amount of money and it all comes from bad customer service. If Mercedes was able to implement a better plan than what they actually did they could not only save many millions of collectable cash but also make large sums of money of the China “, as the world’s second-largest auto market”(Tan 258). One of the most crucial things that Mercedes needed to understand is where their brand falls in their society. When looking at what a Chinese consumer values in a luxury product one finds that, “Chinese consumers highly value functional benefits, luxury brands particularly emphasize product quality in China by communicating material superiority, technical excellence, and the special care exercised during the manufacturing process”(Zhan 1454). Because of Mercedes steep prices and their marketing it was placed in the realm of luxury product and as such was purchased in mass. Before this incident “Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the Chinese market have exceeded 150,000 in number” (Tan 258). This is a staggering number and was also on the rise. If they had performed their multi car recall and appeased the mass of their consumers earlier they would not have tarnished their brand not only in the Chinese market but the world. If they had just spent the relatively small sum of money to fix the cars and make all of their customers happy not only would they not have hurt their brand but they would also see the continued growth in the Chinese market and have consumers there who were willing to buy again thus making them