...wk Apple Inc. is a leading company in the technological arena, continually implementing innovated products to consumers. Apple Inc., though a leader, has dealt with controversy in regard to employee dissatisfaction and unethical working conditions. Employees working in the Foxconn manufacturing plant in Chengdu, China, recently have complained about the working conditions and, the unfair benefits in which they receive. An employee explained after arriving at the Foxconn factory, only senior employees were given benefits and offered sick time, also employees are forced to work overtime regularly (Zhang, 2012). Apple has been accused of discriminating the work employees because of the working conditions they have endured. Employees working 60 “plus” hours per work and making very minimal incomes, they are experience de facto discrimination, which is unequal treatment of employees that is illegal but overlooked (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2003). Apple has become aware of the acquisitions and unfair working conditions in their overseas manufacturing companies, causing them to take appropriate measures. Apple has conducted supplier audits since 2006, but recently has hired the Fair Labor Association to audit its overseas suppliers. According to Zhang (2012), “Apple officials also noted last month it became the first company admitted to the Fair Labor Association, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world"...
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...Foxconn Company Overview Foxconn (The Company) is a multinational electronics contract manufacturing company headquartered in Taiwan. To utilize the cheaper and larger labor market, Foxconn operates several factories in China. It is viewed as the world’s largest electronics contractor manufacturer and third largest information technology company (based on revenues). It recorded $131.8 billion in revenue in 2013. It operates factories across several continents, and accounts for 40 percent of consumer electronic production. Its major clients include Apple, Google, Microsoft, HP, IBM, and many other household names. After a string of suicides in 2010, Foxconn came under public scrutiny. Despite being a low-profile company for many years, these events garnered significant international media attention. The Company’s initial response were criticized by many, and its management has now requested assistance on developing new strategies on how to improve employee life and workplace conditions in order to reduce suicides. Why Were So Many Suicides Happening at Foxconn? Many people have scrutinized Foxconn for its workplace conditions being the trigger for the numerous suicides and suicide attempts committed by its employees. The following sections talk about suicidal triggers from a psychological view. It then concludes with a discussion of the criticisms Foxconn received for its treatment of employees. Why Do People Commit Suicide? (Why People Attempt Suicide, 2012) There...
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...Running head: ETHICS BEHIND APPLE AND FOXCONN RELATIONSHIP 1 Ethics Behind Apple and Foxconn Relationship Maryana Didovych The College of Westchester ETHICS BEHIND APPLE AND FOXCONN RELATIONSHIP 2 Abstract This paper examines Apple, Inc.’s relationship with one of its biggest suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group. Recent growth in suicide incidents at Foxconn factories again caught media’s attention. Whether Apple’s decision to stay in business with Foxconn despite these incidents is ethical or not is examined using Traditional 5-Question approach. Contradictory evidence is also examined. Based on the result of 5-Question approach and reviewed evidence it can be concluded that Apple’s decision may indeed be unethical. Recently published evidence suggests Apple and Foxconn are addressing several issues, but close monitoring of the improvement process is required to ensure success. ETHICS BEHIND APPLE AND FOXCONN RELATIONSHIP 3 Ethics Behind Apple and Foxconn Relationship One of the biggest suppliers and manufacturers of Apple Inc’s (Apple) products recently has been involved in scandals concerning working conditions of its factory workers. This company is called Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn). It operates in more than 40 research and development centers as well as manufacturing facilities in Asia, Russia, Europe and the Americas. According to Pratap, Radhakrishnan and Dutta (2012), Foxconn is “the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, taking...
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...[pic] Foxconn ----- current issue and future forecast Table of Content Executive summary 4 Introduction 5 Overview of the company 5 Economic 7 Current Issue 7 Responding the suicide case in China in economic aspect 7 Current economic issue in Foxconn 7 Future opportunities and risk in Asia region 8 Opportunities 8 Risk 9 Recommendation 10 Political 10 Current Issue 10 Suicide case on political aspect 11 The relationship with China and Taiwan 11 Future forecast 12 Opportunity 12 Risk 13 Recommendation 13 Social 14 Current Issue 14 Current social issues in Foxconn- Suicide Case 14 DISCUSSION ON LABOR, HUMAN RIGHTS AND OHS 15 Future Opportunity and Risk 18 Opportunity 18 Risk 18 Recommendation 18 Environment 19 Current issues 19 Future opportunities and Risks 19 Opportunity 19 Risks 23 Recommendations 24 Conclusion 25 Reference 26 Executive summary This report provides the current economic, political, social and environmental issues, future opportunities and risks, and recommendations for Foxconn. There were a series of suicide incidents happened in Foxconn around 2010 which puts the company under the spotlight. The huge net deficiency in 2010 is the biggest issue in economic part. The political issues involved the...
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...A Suicide Survivor: The Life of a Chinese Migrant Worker at Foxconn Sunday, 25 August 2013 12:50By Jenny Chan, The Asia-Pacific Journal | In 2010, 18 employees working for Foxconn in China attempted suicide. These shocking events focused world attention on the manufacturing supply chains of China's export industry and the experience of working within them. What had driven these young migrant assembly line workers to commit such a desperate act? This article provides a first-hand account of the experiences of one of those who survived a suicide attempt, 17-year-old Tian Yu. Her personal narrative is embedded within the broader context of labour process, work organisation and managerial practice at Foxconn, the Taiwaneseowned multinational whose 1.4 million Chinese workers provide products and components for Apple and others. Factory conditions are further shaped by the company trade union and Chinese government policies. The paper concludes with additional contextualisation indicating the emergence of an alliance of workers, students, scholars and transnational labour movement activists who are campaigning for Chinese workers' rights. Among the most prominent firms in the global supply chain that operates in China is Foxconn, the Taiwanese-owned multinational electronics contract supplier. Foxconn is the trading name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Company and, with a workforce of 1.4 million, it is the largest private sector company in China and one of the world's largest employers...
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...Exploitation of Workers In China: Analyze with suicides of Foxconn Abstract As globalization affected the whole world, the contradiction between leaders and labors has become a world-wide problem. In China, a series of employees’ suicides attracted the public and media’s concentration to consider this problem. A Taiwanese electronics corporation, is acting as the protagonist in this issue and now earning an internationally notorious reputation of running sweatshops. This paper analyze the cause of ongoing trend of exploitation of workers in China with the example of Foxconn, and examine the reasons behind those suicides from the perspective of management, workers and related laws. Based on the fundamental information of China, to illustrate my own analysis about this case from ethical and legal point, and to criticize Foxconn’s management strategy, labor relations and the gaps of Chinese laws. Keywords: workers’ exploitation, China, Foxconn, suicides, management, laws Introduction In the three components of business market, producers, retailers and consumers, corporation is the most common for managers to execute economic activities. The two elements involved in corporation are employers and employees. However, when compared with employees’ welfare, managers prefer to choose maximum profit as their prime selection. In the Marxist theory, this act of utilizing and maximizing employees’ labor to gain more profit without providing them with the equal compensation that...
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...Foxconn is moving in the right direction Foxconn is the largest electronics manufacturer in the world. The company has been in the news for the harsh treatment of its employees who live and work in company halls and tolerate long shifts. After a number of suicides in 2010, nets were placed around the buildings to prevent workers from jumping. On a positive note and according to Foxxcon customers, no organization in the world is as capable, flexible and committed to meet large-scale production deadlines and respond to last minute changes. The company’s workers may work too hard, which may cause the problems surrounding the business. Foxconn needs to make improvements with the business in order to prevent these suicides from occurring. Foxconn has more than a million employees and is growing each and every day. Padilla states, “The Company was previously said to be bringing on 100,000 new employees in June ahead of the iPhone 6 launch (Padilla, 2014).” The company has 13 factories in nine Chinese cities, which is more than any other country. In China, it employs more people than any other company. Recently, Foxconn has been known to have many problems with labor rights in recent news. The working conditions include an average hourly wage from one to two dollars, including overtime. The iPhone and other new products are also a big part of this. Fifty-hour workweeks and twelve-hour shifts are typical at Foxconn, but up to one hundred hour workweeks tend to happen...
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...profitable companies in the world. Its remarkable success lies in the company's ability to create truly innovative products with vast customer appeal. Apple flouts the conventional wisdom of the consumer electronics industry, which emphasizes low cost, "me-too" products, and a continuously shortened product life. Instead, Apple has opted for constant and discrete product innovation, resulting in fanatic consumer loyalty and a high level of profitability. The Bad Apple So why does Apple treat its customers and workers by two different standards? When it comes to customers, Apple is a bold innovator that leads the industry into new directions and forces others to follow. However, when it comes to the management of its supply chain and treatment of workers in the Chinese factories that make its products, it hides behind the constraints of prevailing industry practices. What is even more disconcerting is the fact that these practices are in violation of not only local and national laws, but also of Apple's own voluntary self-imposed code of conduct. It is important to note that this voluntary code of conduct breaks no new ground. It is at best a modest attempt to ensure that workers will be treated fairly and provided with a safe work environment. Yet the violations continue, despite years of monitoring factories where Apple's own audits show persistent non-compliance and despite these factories' repeated broken promises to improve. Apple's Strategic Profile - Value Culture...
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...profitable companies in the world. Its remarkable success lies in the company's ability to create truly innovative products with vast customer appeal. Apple flouts the conventional wisdom of the consumer electronics industry, which emphasizes low cost, "me-too" products, and a continuously shortened product life. Instead, Apple has opted for constant and discrete product innovation, resulting in fanatic consumer loyalty and a high level of profitability. The Bad Apple So why does Apple treat its customers and workers by two different standards? When it comes to customers, Apple is a bold innovator that leads the industry into new directions and forces others to follow. However, when it comes to the management of its supply chain and treatment of workers in the Chinese factories that make its products, it hides behind the constraints of prevailing industry practices. What is even more disconcerting is the fact that these practices are in violation of not only local and national laws, but also of Apple's own voluntary self-imposed code of conduct. It is important to note that this voluntary code of conduct breaks no new ground. It is at best a modest attempt to ensure that workers will be treated fairly and provided with a safe work environment. Yet the violations continue, despite years of monitoring factories where Apple's own audits show persistent non-compliance and despite these factories' repeated broken promises to improve. Apple's Strategic Profile - Value Culture vs...
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...Globalization and changes of middle class essay Topic: Are middle class Victims or Winners of globalization The term ‘middle class,’ it is a vague word as the concept and the meaning of it has been changed over time. For example, in medieval era Europe, the classification of social classes was based on the descent such as nobles and peasants. The nobles in England were classified as high class even though they were lack of wealth. However, the peasants were not able to become high class no matter how wealthy they were, so the classification of peasants with wealth was classified as middle class. As the time flew and when the capitalism has taken place instead of hierarchy, the classification of middle class has changed once more which is mainly classified by the person’s occupation and the wealth the person has. For example of United Kingdom in 1911, the middle class was the class that falls between the upper class and the working class which are professionals, managers, and senior civil servants. However, nowadays, as the economy and technology has developed in fast pace, the definition of the middle class have changed once again that is determined according to the income level of a person. According to The Economics in February 2009, the definition of the middle classes is the people who have a reasonable income with stable job occupation. The Economics also pointed out that the number of middle classes has exploded from 1980s to 2000s. What can be the reason of such a...
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...and it stands as a first-rate and high quality company. Many electronic users, Apple users, and other rival companies are interested in what the future holds for the Apple Company. Users will also want to know how the company will respond and what they will do in this situation. According to Steven Foley, from The Independent, “in 2010, a spate of 13 suicides or attempted suicides at that factory, known as Foxconn City, first turned a spotlight on the companies Apple uses to build its devices.” Those incidents were one of the first problematic situations that put the Apple Company in the limelight. Foley states that any of the workers believe Apple needs to fix the problem of “long work hours, harsh management, and safety problems” first before bringing in inspectors. Apple is trying to fix their problems overseas by “conducting public relations exercise;” to the workers, it is not good enough. Foley then continues to lists only few of the allegations that Apple faces in China. The allegations that he includes in his article are: in 2009, an employee working for Foxconn fell from a building after...
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...Analysis of Personal and Organizational Ethics and Values between For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations Fedno Trompe PHI 445 Personal & Organizational Ethics Prof. Elaine Phompheng May 04, 2015 Part I The non- profit organization that I chose for this assignment is the American Cancer Society. About 4 years ago I lose my mother with lymphoma; her death left pain and gaping hole at the core of my life puzzle. For that I would like share with others about the several nonprofit companies whose goals are to help others. The American Cancer Society (ACS) saves lives by helping others stay well and get well. Their main focus is to prevent cancer or detect it as its earliest, most treatable stage. American Cancer Society: History: The American Cancer Society was first organized in 1913. At that time 15 doctors and businessman in New York City got together to create what was then called the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). In that time in history it was not considered appropriate to mention the word “Cancer” in public. Information concerning this bad illness was hidden in climate of fear and denial. At the same time, over75, 000 people died each year of cancer in just in the United States. The most important item on the founders’ agenda was to raise awareness of this illness, before any other educate doctors, nurses, patients and family members about cancer. Marjorie Illig was an ASCC field representative...
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...biggest story in tech for the past few weeks has not been about a phone or tablet, but a set of poorly treated workers in China. When the New York Times published an expose about dangerous and abusive working conditions at Foxconn’s Apple production facilities, the paper started a wave of news coverage about labor abuses and inspired a number of activist groups to demand a “ethical iPhone.” Sensing the damage to its reputation and potential impact on sales, Apple has responded by inviting third party inspectors from the Fair Labor Association into its suppliers’ plants and Foxconn has announced that it’s giving workers a 16 to 25 percent raise. Unfortunately, neither raises nor inspections that double as photo ops will fix the system-wide problems that should bother us. By focusing their attention on Apple alone, both activists and press are minimizing the scope of abuses that are much worse at non-Foxconn facilities. If you were a fly on the wall at a Chinese electronic factory and could see everything without being detected, would it be the low pay checks given to the workers that really pulled at your heart strings? Or would it be: Abusive Supervisors: At many factories, workers are berated and verbally abused by their bosses in ways that wouldn’t even fly at a prison labor facility in the U.S. According to an investigation conducted by China Labor Watch (CLW), At Catcher Electronics, a supplier that makes phones and notebooks for Dell, Apple, Nokia, ASUS, Acer, Sony, Motorola...
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...To what extent is corporate social responsibility a source of competitive advantage Suffering from air pollution and water contamination, citizens gradually demand businesses to take action on social responsibility. As a result, corporate social responsibility (CSR), which came into general use in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Harvard Kennedy School,2008), has become a vital portion in business model. There are a large number of definitions on corporate social responsibility. According to Harvard Kennedy School (2008), CSR is a procedure targeting at embrace responsibility for the company's actions and inspire a positive impact through its activities on the employees, environment, communities, consumers, as well as stakeholders. It seems that CSR is balance between positive social effect and business processes. With the development of CSR, more recent definitions focus mainly on the impact of how the companies manage their core business. In other words, the idea whether CSR serves as a resource of competitive advantage has emerged. In this essay, the author believes that the CSR indeed brings financial profits to the business and is overall beneficial to fashion business development. In the recent years, most high-street brands, such as Primark and Top Shop, including some luxury fashion brands, have worked on sustainability reports and corporate responsibility (CSR) for the sake of their long-term growth. This study will focus on the influence of CSR in the...
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...dollars. As a mutual fund manager, I have performed a SWOT analysis to determine whether or not to invest in this company. I will identify internal and external stakeholders, evaluate their needs and see how the organization measures up when it comes to satisfying those needs. Strengths Apple Inc. has been ranked number one on Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired list for the fourth year in a row according to CNNMoney (DuBois, 2011). The "The American Customer Satisfaction Index" (2012) website shows Apple with a score of 87 out of 100 points on a scale of 0-100 at the national level, this was a 13% increase from the first year in 1995. Personal Computers and HP both came in second with a score of 78 out of 100. Apple has intensive employee training in order to provide exemplementry customer service. They focus on understanding what the customer needs and provide a solution, which may be their key to innovating new products. They have an extensive beautifully designed product line that shares functionality. The Apple trademark, apple with a piece missing illuminates when the computer is on which makes it stand out as an apple product. There is a light under the keyboard making it easy to type in the dark, not to mention the laptops are super slim and light making portability easy. Apple recently created iCloud which is basically a filing cabinet in the sky. When you purchase something from iTunes, no matter what it is, it is stored in iCloud and then you can send it...
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