Overview
The article “Rio Tinto heavily blamed by protesters over 41 mine worker deaths” was published on The Guardian on April 15th, 2014 by Rupert Neate. The article primarily focuses on the multinational mining corporation, Rio Tinto, being alleged for unsafe working conditions for its employees. This is due to the fact that 41 mine workers were pronounced dead after their fatal deaths in a mine collapse last year. The protesters in London and are fighting for better working protection in countries including Indonesia and Madagascar. Overall, Rio Tinto try to explain that they are doing all that they can to improve the safety of their workers.
The article “Rio Tinto heavily blamed by protesters over 41 mine worker deaths” was published on The Guardian on April 15th, 2014 by Rupert Neate. The article primarily focuses on the multinational mining corporation, Rio Tinto, being alleged for unsafe working conditions for its employees. This is due to the fact that 41 mine workers were pronounced dead after their fatal deaths in a mine collapse last year. The protesters in London and are fighting for better working protection in countries including Indonesia and Madagascar. Overall, Rio Tinto try to explain that they are doing all that they can to improve the safety of their workers.
Business Strand
Rio Tinto is a British-Australian mining company and can be clearly distinguished as an international company because its extraction process occurs in multiple countries around the world. Nevertheless, Rio Tinto has been facing much criticism due to their carelessness of employee working conditions and thus, is primarily related to the working in international markets strand in international business. This is due to the fact that Rio Tinto has employee issues, and needs to work quickly in order to overcome this. The employees and workers feel like they are not being treated the way they should be, and individuals (even those who do not work for the company) are part of a protest to end this. This comes to show that with international business, it is important that the companies follow the safety regulations in order to maintain a positive image.
Rio Tinto is a British-Australian mining company and can be clearly distinguished as an international company because its extraction process occurs in multiple countries around the world. Nevertheless, Rio Tinto has been facing much criticism due to their carelessness of employee working conditions and thus, is primarily related to the working in international markets strand in international business. This is due to the fact that Rio Tinto has employee issues, and needs to work quickly in order to overcome this. The employees and workers feel like they are not being treated the way they should be, and individuals (even those who do not work for the company) are part of a protest to end this. This comes to show that with international business, it is important that the companies follow the safety regulations in order to maintain a positive image.
Opinion
In my opinion, I believe that Rio Tinto needs to improve their employee working conditions in order to maintain a healthy brand image. I think that it is a tragedy of what happened to the 41 workers and as a result, Rio Tinto should create and enforce better safety regulations so it doesn't happen again. I personally wouldn’t feel safe working for Rio Tinto and many individuals feel the same way and due to this common opinion, individuals who don’t even work for the company are protesting. Consequently, it can be seen that Rio Tinto can have a huge consequence in not only their reputation but as well as financially. This is due to the fact that if Rio Tinto has a negative brand image, Tinto’s retail value for the minerals won’t be as high. Therefore, Rio Tinto has to sell their minerals for less, ultimately decreasing revenue. All in all, I believe that though Rio Tinto operates its facilities outside of its target market’s area, it has to keep in mind that if workers stop working because they are afraid, Rio Tinto won’t have any business at all.
In my opinion, I believe that Rio Tinto needs to improve their employee working conditions in order to maintain a healthy brand image. I think that it is a tragedy of what happened to the 41 workers and as a result, Rio Tinto should create and enforce better safety regulations so it doesn't happen again. I personally wouldn’t feel safe working for Rio Tinto and many individuals feel the same way and due to this common opinion, individuals who don’t even work for the company are protesting. Consequently, it can be seen that Rio Tinto can have a huge consequence in not only their reputation but as well as financially. This is due to the fact that if Rio Tinto has a negative brand image, Tinto’s retail value for the minerals won’t be as high. Therefore, Rio Tinto has to sell their minerals for less, ultimately decreasing revenue. All in all, I believe that though Rio Tinto operates its facilities outside of its target market’s area, it has to keep in mind that if workers stop working because they are afraid, Rio Tinto won’t have any business at all.
Neate, Rupert. "Rio Tinto heavily blamed by protesters over 41 mine worker deaths." theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 15 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/15/rio-tinto-heavily-blamed-protesters-mine-worker-deaths>.