Ethical Analysis of Tom's of Maine

The subject of this analysis is Tom Chappell, originator and current president of Tom's of Maine. Tom's of Maine is a small company creating oral care and personal hygiene products using natural ingredients. It has been increasingly successful, attaining a 20 percent growth rate and gaining a 5 percent market share, while also asserting that it is a socially responsible business.

From the beginning, in 1970, Tom Chappell was concerned with maintaining an environmentally responsible company offering natural products. He also emphasized crueltyfree products that did not use animal testing or animal ingredients. However, he indicated, it was not until he attended divinity school that he developed a clearer understanding of how his values and ethical commitments could impact all areas of his business conduct. Before that time, he noted, he had become unhappy with his business success and uncertain about the direction of the company. He sought a way to integrate his spiritual life with that of his colleagues and coworkers in service to their customers.

Chappell noted that he was specifically affected by the theology of Richard Niebuhr in developing his new integration. He indicated that he went into his classes with the question of whether sound business practices could be congruent with respect for humanity and nature, and his basic values. His readings led him to believe that people did not have t

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its natural children's and adult toothpastes. Although they had been using fluoride in their toothpaste since 1975, they did not try for ADA approval until the mid-1980s. At that time, however, they learned that the ADA's testing protocols emphasized the use of lab rats, which were killed in order to determine the effectiveness of the products (Rizk, 1995). The company did not want to compromise its values, which included a prohibition on animal testing, along with a prohibition on animal ingredients in the products. However, the ADA approval would have provided them with an important market boost. As a consequence, they sought to develop an alternative testing protocol that the ADA would accept as equivalent, or better. They worked with Dr. Richard Corpron of the University of Michigan to develop such a method and obtained ADA approval both of the testing protocol and of their product (Rizk, 1995). In this instance, the company worked hard to maintain its principles, seeking out alternative methods of obtaining results that would benefit the company economically. There are also indications that the company is constantly working to improve their packaging in order to perform better in terms of their environmental values. T

Category: Business - E