You may have heard the recent news about Taiwanese food products being pulled off the shelves around the world. These include bottled drinks, fruit preserves, and other food products, due to a scare regarding DEHP, a chemical that may be carcinogenic. This has certainly hurt Taiwanese exports, but how does this affect other businesses around the world too.

This is just one example, but it demonstrates a very common scenario for multinational corporations and companies that import products from around the world. When there is a public concern about a certain product that you sell, you may feel pressured to pull it from your shelves. This is for your customers, to be sure, but it can also have a negative impact on your relationship with the manufacturers and importers.

How do you balance these two priorities? On the one hand, you certainly don’t want to sell a product that may be tainted or otherwise dangerous in some way, but you also don’t want to cut ties with a supplier either. To help sustain certain levels of orders with these suppliers, you may ask about alternative products that they may also provide.

The exact same thing happens when news stories break with controversial working conditions, poor environmental responsibility, and other issues that may mar the reputation of any given company, supplier, or product. It is a very delicate situation and should be handled accordingly.