Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies
Apple Inc. Ethics and social responsibility
Apple is known across the globe for its quality products and up-to-date technology that allows the users to feel to be ahead of other brands hence forming an ardent brand community with great brand loyalty. In order to achieve these technologies, Apple often outsources parts and even services from developing nations particularly in the Asian world. The reason for the preference of the Asian workforce is due to the ability to achieve unprecedented turn around time on new products with speed and flexibility unlike any other regions. They also prefer the sourcing for the production of parts in China which helps them to be close to the hundreds of the manufacturers of components that may be needed as well as the engineers who are central in the production of the final products (Harjani A., 2014). This model of business has proven to be profitable to Apple hence successfully used over several years.
However, this outsourcing of services and manufacturers comes at some human costs especially when the concerned companies outsource from countries with labor laws that are lax or do not exist in totality. The suppliers in such countries often juggle the lives of the employees as they wish, they hire and fire employees in their thousands as they wish in line with the production cycles. They are also known to push them to works extremely long hours, a fact that leaves the employees ill and physically famished. These suppliers are known to also ignore safety issues, have no regard at all for environmental issues and never provide appropriate healthcare as is needed in a working environment. These factors often contribute to the negative perspective on the companies that use their services and products and casts blemish on their corporate social responsibility accreditations as indicated by Hawthorne F, (2012).
Apple's ethical and social responsibility guideline
It is in the face of such possible loss of integrity for the company that Apple Inc. decided to put in place guidelines that define their ethics and the social responsibilities that must be adhered to by al their suppliers and the secondary organizations that are linked to their suppliers. These measures are geared towards ensuring that the Apple customers do not become indirect perpetrators or supporters of inhumane production process and make the Apple products acceptable and ethical from the infancy stage to the display shops.
The supplier code of conduct that is upheld by Apple requires that suppliers observe the highest possible standards of environmental and social responsibility as well as ethical conduct within their areas of operation and with the employees. It is compulsory for the suppliers to provide safe working conditions, have respect for the workers and handle all employees them with utmost dignity, act ethically and fairly towards each employee and are required to use practices that are friendly to the environment whenever they make their products or carry out the services that they give Apple Inc.
Apple also believes in the upholding of the human rights and any supplier is forbidden from discrimination and bias against any employee on whatever grounds especially during the employment period. Indeed, Apple emphasizes that there is no pregnancy test that is needed to be conducted on an individual or any medical test except and only in the situation where the law for that country requires so or if such is prudent for the safety of the employee at the unique working environment. However, discrimination based on these results is not acceptable as well.
Suppliers are also forbidden from harassing the employees or even using abusive language on them. Subjecting the employees to inhumane treatment, harsh treatment, physically coercing them, mental and psychological harassment is also strictly forbidden by Apple as unethical. The subjecting of people to involuntary labor and the human trafficking is also unethical in the Apple code of conduct for the suppliers. The involuntary labor comes in many forms like using threats, involuntary transportation, harboring against will, abduction, employing through fraud among other such malpractices.
The Apple Company further needs their suppliers to refrain from using underage labor in line with the International Labor Organization guidelines or the applicable minimum age within the sense of the individual government guidelines. It also requires that the suppliers protect the juvenile employees (those under 18) and should not work at night or carry out overtime jobs. This special treatment extends to the student workers who must have schedules that will allow them to continue pursuing their educational needs as they desire.
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