Now we're going to look at another company, Bayer Crop Science, and look at it through stakeholder theory. Bayer, as you know, is a large German chemical company, also does some drugs. Its most famous drug, of course, is aspirin, which it sells over the counter. Many of you have probably used Bayer aspirin or used some generic copy of Bayer. We're going to talk now about their case and then apply it to stakeholder theory. Now, this company, because it's a chemical company, it always needs new supplies. One of the things they really needed were cotton seeds, and the best cotton seeds are grown in small farms all throughout India, all spread throughout India. Those farms are mostly owned by a company called Crop Science. Bayer bought Crop Science, and Bayer had been in India in other projects for some years, so it was familiar with the Indian and familiar with the Indian culture, it wasn't a complete, "foreigner" there. But it was a natural choice to buy this and they have wonderful cotton seeds. Also, those cotton seeds now are grown through genetically modified seeds. There're some problems with genetically modified seeds, I know, but in places like India where there're so many bugs, frankly, that eat the seeds, it's only if you have genetically modified seeds that you have any chance of growing things. It turns out by distributing those seeds, these farmers became very profitable and it was a very worthwhile project for the farmers and of course worthwhile for Bayer. But after they bought Crop Science, they discovered that the seeds were harvested by children beginning at the age five, and it was practiced all throughout all the farms, this wasn't just some farm, all of the over this was a custom, an old custom that children would harvest the seeds. The problem was for Bayer is they had a global anti-child labor policy. It was in their mission statement, it was published, every employee knew about it, it was that they don't tolerate child labor at all any place in the company nor in their supply chain. Anyone who's like Crop Science who's supplying cotton seeds, that also applies to them. Well, all right, but what was interesting is that their employees began to criticize them for buying a company that use child labor. The media, of course, was all over this, this was just a terrible acquisition and they had to immediately sell Crop Science, this is terrible, and they were just merciless with their criticism of Bayer. Although child labor is not tolerated at Bayer, it's a very old tradition, it's soo old we don't know how old it is. It's been going on in Indian farms just as long as we have written history and probably before that. Now the children, as I said, they don't go to school. Sometimes they're treated badly and sometimes they're not. Should Bayer just acquiesce to this practice in order to get the cotton seeds, or should it sell Crop science? If it sells Crop Science and it still needs seeds, what is the guarantee that the next company they buy the seeds from will not also use child labor? Actually, nothing will guarantee that, so they've got a child labor issue. The other solution, their employees said, just ban child labor from these farms. Well, but how does that look to the farmers? Does that be perceived as some Western neocolonial company that's coming in and telling people what to do when they've been doing it for centuries? I mean, that's a very touchy situation as you know, and you're supposed to abandon an ancient custom you've been carrying on forever? Those are their issues.
