Apple and Its Ethics

Apple and its Ethics

Given such conditions and accusations against Apple and its model of production, Apple has been forced to take proper action in regards to their poor image. Apple has initiated a campaign addressing suppliers’ responsibility in the work area and related issues. Currently in their web page, Apple has made the supplier responsibility program and the green environment program part of their main focus, which shows how much these accusations have affected their public image to certain degree. Starting off with the supplier responsibility Apple claims that they are doing everything in their power to avoid employees in manufacturing plants to be exploited. They claim that they are doing this by investing in helping workers in these specific areas and also by teaching the workers about their rights as individual and employees of course. Per the information obtained in their site, the number show significant increase in regards to the employees who are taking these free education and development programs. From 2007 to 2013 there has been a total 3.8 Million members trained in these matters. This says a lot when considering the huge amount of employees that work at this manufactures.

 Apple is also demanding their suppliers to treat their employees with respect and ethically especially to all the previous violation in the code that have occurred.  With such demands and pressure the suppliers have been able to comply with a 60 hours per week maximum, and it achieved a 95% compliance with this regulation. Many other details and programs are mention regarding their suppliers and they work environment, and how it has been improved. However one the important factor that gives somewhat credit to Apple is the fact that they have been auditing their suppliers since 2006. These audits review details involved mainly in the supply chain operations, but mainly focused the hours worked and compensation of the workers. If given the circumstance in which one the suppliers was a repeatedly violated these regulation Apple would cut ties with the supplier to avoid the exploitation of the workers. In 2012 Apple joined the FLA and was the first Technological Corporation to do so, again, showing the interest of Apple in showing that they are actually taking matters into their own hands to fix this irregularities across their manufacturing and supply chain production lines. The involvement of the FLA has also set a lot of pressure on FOXCONN, their main supplier, and this pressure has led to significant improvement in the work condition at FOXCONN.

  Now in regards to the environment and the improper disposal of hazardous materials Apple has addressed the issue as well, and actually you can find it in their home page. Apple claims in that they “work tirelessly” to make sure that they are reducing their impact on climate change and smaller footprint. The make an emphasis on the recycling of obsolete products and/or the proper disposal of such material. In regards to their process they claim that Apple hasn’t any harmful toxins either in their products or process. This actually ties back to the issue that occurred with one the suppliers in which hazardous substances were being worked with, however such substances aren’t being used anymore. Also accusation against FOXCONN which is the biggest supplier of Apple, in regarding to the disposal of heavy metals, and proof of dark waters coming out their production plants. All of these and many more issues have been affecting the image of Apple, and in order to avoid this Apple have taken proper action to make sure they do don’t pay for the negligence of their suppliers.

              These programs, investments, and campaigns are the side of the story for Apple, making it seem and showing that they care about Corporate Social Responsibility and the importance of it. It is unfair to take that away from Apple because they have indeed addressed the issues. Although they might have done so until the media and public was aware of it but it did. Apple however cannot avoid the fact that they have been guilty of trying too hard, in regards of achieving an extreme lean production to reach in this matter profit maximization. In this case overshadowing the importance of profits over ethical issues has been frowned upon the media and especially the public which has led Apple to be in the eye of storm. One important factor that is worth mentioning within all these criticism is the fact that only Apple has been accused for these unethical issues.

Other big companies such as Samsung also use supplier such as FOXCONN to manage their products and go through the same process, leading to abuse of workers right as we well as affecting the environment. However since Apple is the largest company amongst the others, they have been in the spotlight and also the media and public knows that pointing out the “big one” can actually end up in results and changes. Apple is aware of such circumstances and therefore accepts to a certain degree that the supervision over the suppliers manufacturing plants wasn’t the most efficient one leading to exploitation of employees.

          As a conclusion, after careful analysis of the facts in regards to the issues being address, it can be determined that the lean production and profit maximization strategies did weigh more than the ethical responsibility on Apple’s behalf.  Apple is a large company with a huge demand of products that every cent that they save in production represents a significant reduction in cost of expenses, hence making them more profitable. However this factor isn’t nearly as important as the rights and ethics of the employees working at these plants, whose rights were ignored too many times. These lack of supervision from Apple on its suppliers lead even to death of employees while at work due to accidents and also a few suicides that were a result of extreme overtime at work and pressure the job demanded.