One of the biggest bankruptcy cases ever in Lawrence and Methuen was the second filing involving Malden Mills, the Polartec manufacturer hard by the Spickett River that employed so many residents in the Merrimack Valley, and which fell on hard times after a devastating 1995 fire.
The last time Malden Mills filed for bankruptcy was in January 2007; at that time the plan was to sell the company for $44 million to the Gordon Brothers group in Boston, who said at the time they intended to keep the Lawrence and New Hampshire operations going, despite the bankruptcy.
An interesting case study has been done on this bankruptcy by Al Gini and Alexei Marcoux two business students at Loyola University in Chicago. Gini and Marcoux examine the case from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and Catholic social thought (CST), doctrines that emphasize the need to humanize business operations. The paper emphasizes how difficult it can be to “do the right thing” and still succeed in the cut-throat business marketplace.
Those who are interested in an eleven page exposition along these lines can read Gini and Marcoux’s work here.
By Doug Beaton