Case Study: Read the following case study before answering Questions 2 and 3. Topforma Tyres is a British tyre manufacturing company and has produced 131 million tyres at 23 factories located in 8 countries (i.e. Spain, Poland, Finland, UK, India, Thailand, China, and Malaysia) with the revenues of $1.17 billion in 2019. In 1999, Topforma Tyres opened its first London sales office, and was able to grow sales in European countries and expanded the market internationally. By 2005 the company managed to gain almost 6% market share of competitive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) tyre industry by European automobile makers. Topforma Tyres Company has also manufactured different branded tyres, such as Star tyre, Aero Tyro, Westlink, iVentor, and Supercirdes to specifically serve smaller and custom-made tyre sizes to the automobile market, different than the ones supplied by other leading companies. The company was founded in 1996 by Josh Brownman, an innovative entrepreneur, who grew up in the rubber family business. Josh turned the rubber materials further into the tyre corporation with advanced technologies and innovation to produce the durable and good corner-gripped tyres. The production lines provide car tyres and off-the-road tyres including all season tyres, run flat tyres, 4x4 tyres, summer tyres, winter tyres, small tyres and reinforced tyres (for heavy loads and larger vehicles). Topforma Tyres has embraced itself with a strong mission statement of "We take great pride in the excellent quality of our products with integrity, honesty, and people are at the heart of our business." However, with the intense competition it looks like the company cannot completely keep its promises. To battle the rivalries and maintain competitiveness, Topforma Tyres has implemented rapid mass production across factories. The company exerts considerable pressure on manufacturing production processes and workers to keep production costs as low as possible with shorter production times. There is no doubt that Topforma Tyres has demonstrated great success in recent years and with the established global customers, corporate clients, and increased international sales. Yet, when it comes to ethical and social inquiries, these need further insight. The company's success, in turn, has provoked controversy and negative publicity, due to questionable ethical practices and social responsibilities. There were the accidental and tragic incidents of 76 fatalities and 261 injuries reported in the United States, France and some other European countries that linked to the tyre failures. It led Topforma Tyres company to recall and replace 10 million tyres. Several executives in the company resigned and were fired; and it brought an end to the long- term corporate relationship with one of its biggest business clients. Publidly, Topforma Tyres argued that it was because people did not have the right inflation pressure – and that should have been 30 psi and not 27 psi as the client's recommendation. Kevin Stones, the CEO of Topforma Tyres, added that "when a driver of a vehide has a tread separation, they should be able to pull over not rollover. The driver should not continue driving a vehicle; it is a very basic driving rule." This claim was also supported by many executives. However, not too long this incident became a hot news topic in the media and public. Critics and workers claimed that this could be because of the low-cost manufacturing and labour policy practising in the company. It led Topforma Tyres to cut corners on production and to allow substandard tyres to pass inspection that should have been rejected. This then led Topforma Tyres to pressure workers to accept new labour contracts that reduced pay and benefits and increased the hours that its factories were operating. In fact, one of the tyre engineers had raised a concern of the tyre quality to his supervisors, but his views had never been considered. A large number of lawsuits were filed against Topforma Tyres and its corporate client (i.e. the car company). The result of most lawsuits was kept confidential. One that could be evident was that Topforma Tyres set aside $400 million to handle lawsuits related to the recalled tyres. Taking this further, there has been some criticism of how Topforma Tyres treated its employees and an appropriate safe space for employees to express their opinions regardless of the job titles, ages, and backgrounds. Much controversy also surrounded by the high level of CO2 emission that the tyre industry has created; and this included Topforma Tyres' production processes and the non-exhaust emissions – that are particles released into the air from tyre wear and brake wear. The company's revenues have gone into reverse amid a challenging global automotive environment and intense consumer activism as a social movement. The company's stock has dedined nearly 30% year-to-date. One of the consumer activists pointed out that "their tyres give off tiny, toxic particles as they wear; and the rubber or tyre burning has caused damage to our environment. The problems come with its products but how the company can help us." With such concern of producing and using tyres, this environmental impact has risen up the political and government agenda, according to the UK Government's Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).