Ethical Issues at Apple
Apple Inc. is one of the leading global companies, but in spite of its success, it is also faced with some legal and ethical issues, such as the employment of under-aged workers in ten of its plants in China. The company is striving to address these issues as apart of a wider commitment to transparency and sustainability, but more dramatic measures might be necessary.
Apple Inc. is one of the largest companies of the globe, having in fact the largest capitalization of al companies -- 563 billion (Y Charts, 2012) -- and also being the largest company in the IT field, generating more revenues that Microsoft and Google combined (Goldman, 2012). Apple is mostly popular due to the high level of technologic innovation it has made fun and easily available to the larger market. But aside from its success, the company has also been blamed for some of its operations and decisions, some of these having a legal nature, whereas others being more ethical in nature. One particular issue that is both illegal as well as immoral is represented by the employment of children in the factories of the organization. This project then sets out to assess the issue, identify the impacted stakeholders, the effect of the violation and reveal some measures that would prevent such situations from reoccurring in the future.
2. Company history
Apple Inc. was established in 1976 in Cupertino, California by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and has made its debut with a personal computer kit. Gradually however, the company came to develop a wider array of products, as well as services. Some of the most popular products Apple sells today are the iPad, the iPod or the Macintosh computers.
Historically, Apple only operated in the United States, but commenced to open plants in foreign locations in order to take advantage of their cost efficiencies. The strategy has supported the already high profits of the corporation. Nowadays, the organization employs over 60,000 individuals worldwide and operates through over 360 stores worldwide (Website of Apple).
3. Child labor at Apple
In the pursuit of low costs...
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