Apples current Place on Ethical and Social Responsibilities (Essay Sample)

Apple’s current Position and reputation regarding ethical and social responsibility
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Introduction
Ethical and social responsibility forms an integral parts of the business prosperity (Sims, 2003). The image and reputation of the business is determined greatly on the effectiveness of the ethical and social responsibility upheld by that particular business. For the business and consumers, the social responsibilities and ethics of a business present themselves at the highest level. Throughout the operation period of the business, the customers and stakeholders may question about the ability of the company to uphold the corporate social responsibility. As Sims (2003) asserts, ethics in this regard, is seen in the manner through which the business advertises it products to its prospective customers. The employees of the businesses are the tools through which the image and reputation of the business are promoted.
This paper examines and explores Apple Corporation’s current position on the company’s ethical and social responsibilities as well as how to determine whether it has met all or any of its obligations. Conceivably, it determines the impact that the publication of ethics and social responsibilities violations made by Apple’s suppliers has had on its image and reputation. Nevertheless, two methods that can be adopted by the Apple Company to enhance the suppliers’ compliance with the rules for wage and benefits standards in future are also included. Finally, I will give a recommendation on the best ways and mechanisms of improving the marketing strategy of the Apple Company within the global marketplace.
Apple’s current Place on Ethical and Social Responsibilities
The current position and stand on the social and ethical responsibilities of the Apple Company integrates important moves such as promotion of complete transparency, environmental protection and the protection of the wellbeing and health of its employees. According to Apple (2012), the company commits itself in the publication of its audit reports irrespective of the nature of the report, whether good or bad. In addition, Apple is among the first public corporation and companies that resorted to join the Fair Labor Association. Additionally, the Apple Company has offered training to more than 350 employees on safety topics and about 95 suppliers. The training is aimed at improving the workplace condition, thus improving the wellbeing and health of its workers and stakeholders.
According to Apple (2012), the company has managed to carry out environmental impact assessments and audits for its proposed projects in more than 14 countries throughout the world. The Audit in this case meant to check the level of compliance with the existing environmental protection policies within those particular countries. The Apple Company through its Apple (2012) promised to uphold the highest level of integrity and transparency through sharing and dissemination of information regarding any of its moves. However, some audit reports have proved to perpetuate the violation of human rights and well-being of individual workers within the factories.
A deeper scrutiny revealed that factories in China were keeping away important documents from the auditors. Consequently, the workers were threatened to give positive comments about the company in case asked by auditors on any issue about them. On some occasion, a supplier was found going contrary to the need and expectations of the company by illegal dumping of waste within the dumping room. The hired international expert corrected the situation however. The suppliers’ responsibility at Apple (2012) reveals that the company promised not to tolerate any unethical social behavior that would, otherwise be detrimental to the life of the company and its stakeholders.
Through a partnership with an international Non-Governmental Organization, Verite, the Apple Company established the Sustainable Workforce Program that aimed at promoting the open and free communication among its workers. The program would also ensure that the concern of workers are handled and channeled in a most effective and efficient ways. Apple Company claims that the implementation of this program has drawn more than 47000 workers and has perpetuated communications and dialogue in all the levels.
Different efforts done by the company has yielded fruits as part of the company’s good reputation and promotion of its image in the public. Excessive overtime has ended through the establishment of the tracking system. The company is now able to operate over 1 million workers and give a detailed data of the company on a monthly basis. The Social Responsibility at Apple (2013) reveals that Apple Company has benefited widely through the implementation of this particular tracking system. It has achieved an average of 92 percent compliance across all the working weeks as most of the workers resorted to work for less than 60 hours in a week.
Impacts of the Publication of Ethics and Social Responsibilities Violations on the Reputation of the Apple Company
The reputation of the Apple Company has been destroyed through the publication of the ethic and corporate social responsibilities violations. The rise of the Company from the localized business and crumbling company in 1997 to a stunning multi-billion corporation within duration of 15 years is remarkable. As Rao & Klein (2013) asserts, Apple Company is considered of the most successful and profitable business organization across the globe.
The Carnegie Council article and publications describes Apple Company as the Violator of both the local and international laws. Additionally, the company is rebuked for its unfair treatment of its workers (Rao & Klein, 2013). For instance, workers were forced to give positive comments on the company in case asked by the auditor. Failure to do so would call for the suspension from job or the complete loss of the job. In response to the publication by the British and Chinese media officers of labor rights regarding the violation of rights in china in 2006, the Apple Company published its annual report about working environmental conditions of the whole supply chain. However, the media cautioned the interpretation of these particular findings of the Apple perceived biased, since they comprised of the corporate self-assessment.
A deeper inspection by Finkle & Mallin (2013) asserts that Apple Company refused to reveal its factory audits but released only meager data. In some instances, the company had many million dollars of the unpaid overtime remuneration. It consisted of mandatory monthly and weekly overtime working hours.
The studies by O’Grady (2009) reported instances in which workers attempted to commit suicide due to an increased level of stress that the company put them. Nevertheless, it described the terrible living condition, low level of wages, forced labor, and association with dangerous substances within the air-filter system. Like any other company, Apple should driven by factors such as loyalty to the customer, external strategies and procedures, and the expectations of the stakeholders, community, and the government (O’Grady, 2009).
Two methods to enhance suppliers’ compliance to benefits and wage standards
The adherence to the wage and benefits standards will be an integral move for the Apple Company (O’Grady, 2009). Performance of the supply audits and Utilization of the supply scorecard are the two methods that can facilitate Apple’s achievement regarding suppliers’ compliance to existing standards. Suppliers’ Responsibility at Apple (2013) asserts that based on utilization of the supply scorecard, the card should incorporate information such as the number of corrective actions, reworked hours numbers, performance against benchmarking and RMA processes. On the other hand, the performance of the supply audit will reveal whether the suppliers pay their employees at the right time and precisely.
Ireland et al. (2008) claims that, as a form of discipline, the performance of audit will ensure that they do not hold any money with them, a situation that is likely to breach the contract. Evidently, the audits within the Apple Company are done in areas not limited to non-production sites such as warehouses and call-centers.
Would Apple’s customers be willing to pay more for its products if the company had to increase selling prices to improve wages and benefits for suppliers’ workers?
No. In my opinion, I do not think if Apple’s prospective customers would be willing to pay more for the products in the event of an increment of the selling prices. It is because there are other groups of companies that offer similar type of products at relatively lower prices than Apple Company. For Example, the Samsung Company offers the smart-phone at a lower price than Apple. To most consumers, the cost forms the most important factor in the current economic times. As Rao & Klein (2013) claims, the Samsung Company made pr...