Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Corporate Responsibility And Marketing StrategiesYourFirstName YourLastNameUniversity title
Current Position and Reputation Apple Corporation
 
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Introduction
Apple Corporation was established in 1977 and later was registered on the NASDAQ Global Select Market Exchange. It is a multinational corporation with its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple Corporation manufactures, designs and markets its personal computers, mobile communication devices, and portable digital music players and media devices. Apple Corporation as well sells a number of services, peripherals, related software, networking solutions and third-party applications and digital content. Apple is also placed in the list of Fortune 500 of the most admired organizations in the world by CNN. This position dignifies a strong brand and unique brand that has been identified in a more efficient way. Apple has been capable of indentifying its brand effectively. Apple brand has been marked as to have strong graphic of bite that have been perceived to be trendier than other brands (Murphy, Öberseder & Laczniak, 2013). This paper will look into the current reputation and position regarding social and ethical responsibilities, and the strategies that Apple Corporation employs to market its products.
Apple’s current position on its social and ethical responsibilities includes a commitment to reduction of environmental impact, transparency, and safeguarding the well-being and health of its workers. Apple uses it commitment to transparency policy to publish it audit reports regardless of whether they are good or bad. Moreover, Apple was the first technology company to join Fair Labor Association (FLA). Apple Corporation has trained over three hundred and fifty employees to educate other employees on safety handling of chemicals. Apple also performs environmental audits in fourteen countries in which it operates and require that suppliers conform to regulations on substance specifications 069-0135 and other laws that prohibit the use of toxic chemicals. Apple has made promises that they will distribute anything that is found to the public. However, according to the detailed audit in China, it has been proved that there were violations of human rights. Factories producing Apple products were hiding crucial documentations from auditors and employee were being threatened to answer the questions asked by the auditors’ right.  It was found that suppliers were dumping harmful wastes in restrooms.
Apples reputation has been contaminated due to the publication of the social and ethics responsibility violations by its suppliers. It is notable how Apple has rose from a wreckage of being collapsing company in the late 1990s to a remarkable market of over five hundred billion dollars in a period of less than fifteen years. Today, Apple is considered to be one of the most profitable corporations (Clarke & Boersma, 2015).
Apple has attempted to guarantee that its employees and those with which they work showcase appropriate behavior under all circumstances. It bases its triumph in light of making inventive, products and services of high quality, and present reliability in each business dealings. According to Apple, four elementary values add to decency: admiration, genuineness, consistence and privacy. Moreover, Apple has came up with  a code that governs its employees and every one of its operations, including those based abroad.  Additionally, Apple Corporation has availed more specific policies concerning director conflict of interest, corporate governance, and guidelines on reporting questionable conduct. Apple has a business conduct helpline that their employees use to report delinquency to Apple’s Finance and Audit Committee (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). 
Apple has not yet met the ethical and social standards; Apple has made significant steps towards ensuring consistency in oversight on its products quality with little success mainly because they strive to introduce new products each year. Apple’s brand hinge on production quality, therefore, mistakes in the production stage can create a major ethical dilemma. For example, when Apple Corporation introduced its  iPhone4, consumers complained about poor reception that was caused by antenna interference whenever customers placed a phone in a particular way. Apple has been accused of appearing to minimize the problem instead of solving it completely (Murphy, Öberseder & Laczniak, 2013).
Apple has infringed the user privacy policy. This was disclosed by Google when Google identified some features on Apple phones that gather data on the geographical locations of phones. Apple claimed that users have the choice of turning the information collection on the phone location off but this was proved to be not completely true since some of these features on apple phones continued to gather information on the location of phones despite the users switching them off. Although, both Google and Apple defend their methods of collecting facts, the government officials disagree. According to the government, passing legislations on mobile measures and privacy policies could have weighty effects on electronic organizations such as Apple Inc.
The publications of social and ethics violations made by Apple’s suppliers have increased apple’s sales. Apple Corporation has to solve its relationship with Foxconn following a series of incidents including employee suicides and suicide attempts. Pegatron, a Chinese Apple contractor, has been accused of a number of solemn violations of human rights of the workers including paying meager wages, using underage labor and requiring excessive working hours. According to investigation by China Labor Watch, Pegatron supplier has significantly increased its business volume from Apple in the past year but it was also found that Pegatron has violated thirty six legal issues and fifty ethical violations. This report also addressed instances where suppliers violate environmental policies by producing hazardous wastes that exceeds the standards of emissions thereby harming the local communities.
            In order to ensure that suppliers adhere to benefits and wage standards, apple can make use of the following methods. Apple can undergo compliance monitoring program especially at the supplier end. This may engross cross checking the intelligence, factory audits, verification measures and corrective action plans to ensure that suppliers comply with the code of conduct. Apple Corporation suppliers have to uphold the human rights of the workers and must create a bias free workplace. Also the suppliers are anticipated to treat their employees with respect and dignity workers and never harm them in any way whatsoever.
In addition, Apple can perform supply audits to reveal whether suppliers pay their employees timely and appropriately. Audits could be aimed at ensuring that there are no withheld wages of any employee as a form of discipline. Apple Corporation can also concentrate on the poor performing areas, as well as call-centers and warehouses with the aim of ensuring environmental conservation and employee safety is complied.
            Apple’s customers have to be willing to pay more for Apple products for apple to increase its selling price to enable the suppliers to provide better benefits and wages for their workers. With the products and services that apple provides for its consumers, I do believe that the Apple’s consumers may be willing to pay more for this services and products. This is because, customers have been willing to pay higher prices for apple products rather than other similar products from other companies. A recent survey indicated that about 50% of Apple consumers would like to purchase Apple’s new iPad while 75% of them agree that there is no tablet that can compare to the Apple’s new iPad. Consequently, as long as the customers are satisfied, Apple does not have any obligation to reduce the prices of its products.
Marketing Strategies
Apple Corporation may use marketing strategies to act as the moderator. A...