Please answer the question in bold, using this information. Thanks External Targ
ID: 381415 • Letter: P
Question
Please answer the question in bold, using this information. Thanks
External Target audience; Customers, investors and the community. This external communication is to make clear the allegations of low wages to farmers who grow Wendy’s tomatoes that is being brought forward by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Dear External Stakeholders of Wendy’s,
"Wendy's is being targeted by an activist group called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and its allies at other activist organizations.
CIW demands we make payments to employees of the companies who supply our tomatoes from the Immokalee area in Florida — even though they are not Wendy's employees. CIW is demanding an added fee on top of the price we pay our suppliers. However, because of our high standards, we already pay a premium to our Florida tomato suppliers.
We believe it's inappropriate to demand that one company pay another company's employees. America doesn't work that way.
Our responsibility to Wendy's customers is to negotiate directly with our suppliers - not third-party organizations — to ensure our product specifications are met at a competitive price. If our suppliers incur additional labor costs, we would expect them to pass them on to us over time."
Sincerely,
Wendy’s Restaurants!
Select one external communication above and assess it for the legal, compliance, and brand implications to the stakeholders.
summarize your assessment of the external communication.
Outline what legal aspects must be considered with the communication, what compliance issues need to be addressed, and
how the brand could be affected. Ensure that you clearly identify the original communication you assessed.
Explanation / Answer
1 - Such Communication to the needed to keep the brand image of the company impact. in the above case of Wendy's there is the case, where the company is accused of paying lower prices for the tomatoes, the company buys. It is necessary for a company to come out and reply to such incidents, which can cause a PR disaster for the company with questioning its integrity legally and would be considered as non-compliant. Here in the said case legal issues can arise as the case is of fair payment to farmer and non-compliance of the payment policies to farmers. This would deteriorate the brand image of the Wendys and could impact the company financially and socially.
2 - Acc to the above assessment of the situation the Wendy is accused of paying lower dues to the tomato farmers, this type of acquisition could spoil the brand image of the company, which could lead to financial loss and loss of brand image. Wendy's have come up by explaining the situation to the stakeholder, that it pays premium prices to the farmer and it is according to the standards.
3 - The above case has the issue of fair payments to the farmers, First, the communication should mention whether the company's employee was working or not, here it is mentioned because here the company is just buying the commodity from the farmers and they are paying the fair prices acc to market rates. Secondly the compliance issues like what is the company policy and compliance and does it fulfil the legality of the situation. This would ensure the company has a policy in place and it follows all legal formalities for the payment, here in the said case the communication clearly mentions the payment policy they have and how they have complied to it.
4 - If the such acquisitions happen, where the legal and compliance issues are raised on the company, such issues should be replied by the company in no time, this would ensure that the company is projecting truth and feels responsible towards the stakeholders, This keeps the brand image intact, if which spoilt it could hamper the company financially and socially, which would be disastrous for the brand image.. Here, in this case, the company has replied in a communication to stakeholders, explaining their situation and how rightfully they are doing the business. Even if the company has wrongfully done the business and feels responsible and sends out communication for the same, it would reduce the impact of the damage what would have happened if the communication was not sent.