SRI Notes

Another One

Recall fatigue?  RC2 recalls additional toys.

Mattel Apologizes...to China?

Just a couple more quick links on the toy safety situation:

According to some press reports (e.g., this one) Mattel has apologized...to China.  This Washington Post article, however, says there are two sides to the story.  (Also note the analysis in the article by Eric Johnson at Tuck, which sounds on-the-mark to me.)

On the SRI Beat

I mentioned him last year, but I just wanted to put up a fresh endorsement for the work Jeffrey MacDonald is doing at the Christian Science Monitor.  In the past two years the Monitor has probably interviewed more social investment practitioners, and written more articles on social investing, than any other publication.  As number of practitioners explodes, with many of them trying new approaches, MacDonald's stories are a great way to keep up.

And Again

Yesterday Mattel announced that it was recalling another 800,000 toys due to lead paint issues. 

A couple of additional observations:

• According to the article, China makes about 80% of toys sold globally.
• The toy business is highly seasonal - the September and December quarters accounted for 69% of Mattel's 2006 sales - so we won't have a strong sense of how much fundamental impact this is having until the current quarter is reported.
• Despite this latest announcement, MAT stock has performed about in-line with the market over the past five trading days.