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Business Analysis
The product is called iPad, an electronic tablet that is sold in different countries across the world. IPad has managed to withstand competition from other strong brands to become one of the most popular electronic devices in the world.
This product was introduced in the market on April 3, 2010, and managed to captivate consumers from different market backgrounds due to its compelling design and easy innovative features.
Different iPad models cost slightly higher than other competing brands in the market. Second-generation iPad models are sold between 500 to 1000 dollars depending on their peculiar attributes, features, market location, and performance.
Apple Inc. owns iPad’s patent and trademark rights.
Apple Inc.’s website is www.apple.com and serves various functions such as marketing, consumer service, and public relations. It enables the company to engage effectively with its customers from different parts of the world.
Apple’s head offices are based in Cupertino, California, U.S.A. The street address of the head office is Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 408-996-1010.
Apple Inc.’s top management consists of Tim Cook who serves as the Chief Executive Officer; Peter Oppenheimer who serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Arthur D. Levinson who serves as the company’s Chairman (Lashinsky, 2013, p. 78).
One of the most notable subsidiaries owned by Apple is Proximity, an Australian based company. It specializes in developing and selling Final Cut software for sound and video editing to individual and corporate customers (Lashinsky, 2013, p. 93).
Figures that show the number of profits made by Proximity in the past year has not been disclosed by the firm.
Ethical Issue Related to iPad
Apple Inc. has been accused of violating human and labor rights in its foreign manufacturing operations. Since the company outsources most of its manufacturing functions to other firms based in Asia, some of the firms it partners with are accused of subjecting their employees to poor working conditions, low wages, long working hours, and beatings. Foxconn, the Taiwanese firm that assembles and manufactures iPads, has been accused of violating the rights of its workers in China. For instance, four workers died and many others were injured in an explosion in a Foxconn manufacturing plant in Chengdu, China in 2012 The workers were polishing up new iPads before they could be packaged and shipped to different destinations. Apple has been accused of doing little to compel its foreign manufacturing partners to improve their labor practices (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012).
The firm has also faced criticism for failing to transfer some of the benefits obtained from its highly profitable business to poor foreign workers. The firm sells its products at premium prices yet it incurs very low labor costs in its operations. Factory laborers in Asia work for long hours to assemble large quantities of iPads to enable the firm to satisfy high market demand for its products. For instance, Foxconn workers are forced to endure 12-hour working day shifts for very little pay (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012). One Foxconn Chinese employee, Sun Danyong took away his own life in frustration after losing a valuable prototype. Before his death, he had been tortured by his supervisors who suspected he had stolen the prototype. Workers are forced to work for about 60 hours every week and despite their toiling, they cannot afford some of the firm’s products.
Ethical Decision-Making Process
Apple needs to be honest with its consumers to make them understand what happened and how it intends to salvage the situation. The firm needs to acknowledge that there is a problem in its operations that needs to be addressed urgently. This will entail the firm revealing the poor working conditions which Foxconn employees have been subjected to and what it is doing to end this practice. Therefore, this will help to boost its image in the industry. The second step the firm needs to undertake is to show its stakeholders that it has a strong drive to implement changes in its operations to resolve various problems faced by its foreign workers. Therefore, Apple needs to implement good labor policies to improve the welfare of workers who assemble iPads in Foxconn factories in China (Perkowski, 2013).
The third step the firm needs to do is to seek the support of its customers, employees, and shareholders to show them that it values their opinions and it is willing to act on them. Therefore, the firm should start by compensating workers who were affected by the explosion incident in Chengdu, China. This will show that it cares and is willing to take action to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future (Perkowski, 2013). It needs to demonstrate its seriousness by appointing quality assurance teams to be stationed in various foreign manufacturing plants where its products are assembled. As a result, the firm will be in a better position to prevent future human rights violations.
References
Duhigg, C., & Barboza, D. (2012). In China, human costs are built into an iPad.New York Times. Web.
Lashinsky, A. (2013). Inside Apple: How America’s most admired-and secretive-company really works. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.
Perkowski, J. (2013). Apple: Another lesson on what not to do in China.Forbes. Web.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
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