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Apple Ethics Case Study

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Interestingly, the code of business conduct from Apple has multiple section mentioning the same, or variations of the same idea. This section will summarize the multiple important rules that Apple impose in their Business Conduct.
The main principles of the company revolves around the four words: Honesty, Respect, Confidentiality and Compliance (Apple, 3). Following that, the company expects the employee to “follow the policy”, “speak up”, “use good judgement” and “ask questions”. These are at the core of every business, to make the employee follow the rules but also allow the employee to voice their opinion in an organized manner. The “speak up” and “ask questions” part is there to prevent the employee from unknowingly engaging in unlawful …show more content…
According to Business, A Changing World, a conflict of interest happens when a person “is not fulfilling her responsibilities as an employee” as “she is acting to benefit herself at the expense of her company” (Ferrel, 43). In Apple’s Business Conduct states clearly not to “conduct Apple business with family members or others with whom you have a significant personal relationship”. This also relates to the “Workplace Relationships” where these can actually present conflict of interest when a person involved has significant power of employment decisions over the other. “Personal Investments” are also mentioned in the Business Conduct to be a possible cause for a conflict of interest as the person can “be involved in or attempt to influence transactions between Apple and a business in which you are invested” (Apple, 4). Again, Apple is very concrete about nearly all significant problems in this section that the company may face, or may have faced in the past, making these provisions in the latest version of the …show more content…
One of the most notable cases with Apple is the case of the battery slowdown back in winter 2017. An Apple developer discovered a line of code within the iPhone that functions as a gate slowing down all the functions of the iPhone in the name of saving battery life and unexpected shutdowns (Patel). To prevent such cases that can and did harm the company’s reputation and business strategies, Apple does mention clearly that such actions of public speaking and press inquiries must be approved by a manager beforehand, like all other Apple employees actions involving non-affiliated stakeholders (the press, the general public, competing companies, the government, etc. ). It also mentions really clearly, again to prevent conflicts of interest, that “you may not request or accept any form of personal compensation from the organization that requested the presentation” (Apple,

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