In January 2012 the New York Times reported poor working conditions at Chinese suppliers, particularly in regards to a dozen suicides. “The facilities of Foxconn are fine, but the management is poor,” revealed Zhu Guangbing, who organized the investigation (Torres, 2012). Critics of Apple note, though, that half of the suppliers since 2007 have violated the suppliers’…
Apple manufacturing plant worker, Shi Zhaokun, died of pneumonia after working long hours in questionable conditions. The article “Worker Deaths Raise Question at an Apple Contractor in China,” by David Barboza explains the incident(s). What was odd about his death was that a spokeswoman made it known that several other young workers had died of similar causes in the last few months. Workers who were interviews by China Labor Watch complained of long working hours and harsh conditions. According to Shi’s family records, he worked more than 60 hours per week. This article also states that, “Apple has gone to great lengths over the past few years to improve conditions at the facilities that produce Apple products in China. Apple is currently compensating the family of Shi Zhaokun with about $15,000, but nothing can really make up for the loss of this young man.…
What makes the article being of value for the present work is that the decision of foreign manufacturing is a result of processes management. Despite common point of view, production in China or Taiwan is not only a question of low labour costs causing extreme profits, in Apple’s case production in Asia was the only solution.…
Currently, Apple is one of the top companies in the world, releasing products such as the iPhone, iPad, and Macbook. According to Forbes (2013), Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time, worth almost twice as much as any other brand in existence. It’s apparent that this company sees much success, yet it is still laden with many issues and receives criticism from the general media. A popular example is the working conditions of oversea manufacturing factories, most notably Foxconn, which has been a controversial subject for quite some time. Foxconn has come under fire several times in recent years. According to an article by the New York Times (2012), some time before an iPhone launch, some students were forced to work on the assembly lines, and if they didn’t, they would fail their course. Though the students were only there to learn and not work, Foxconn needed the extra manpower to fulfill orders placed by Apple. In another article by The Independent (2013), further allegations were made against Foxconn regarding child labor, forced overtime, and illegal 66- hour workweeks.…
This article shows that Apple, being a multination corporation (MNC), has a blend of polycentric and regio-centric predisposition management strategies, dealing with human rights and labor practices. Apple at first made management decisions that were tailored to suit the culture, in this case, China; however, over the years, Apple has been scrutinized for their human rights and labor practices due to offshoring and outsourcing of jobs. In 2010 there were numerous amounts of suicides that occurred within the factories that Apple outsourced its jobs to. These suicides were due to bad working and living conditions, which stemmed from 60 hour work weeks, low pay, abuse on the job and countless other reasons.…
Americans usually discredit the Chinese in the founding of America. However the Chinese put a large amount of work into helping construct the western part of the United States. In addition, they personally may have suffered more than Americans in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. In fact, some could argue that the Chinese laborers had the most difficulty surviving and thriving in the west due to natural dangers, economic deprivation, and social threats.…
This was a strategic move by Apple because it has been receiving a lot of bad press about the poor labor conditions in the Chinese manufacturing plants. Apple is not the only company that outsources to China, but it is the most popular and profitable. Apple is one of America's most profitable businesses and has a cash amount of almost $100 billion in its hand, it's faced criticism for not doing more to repair what its own audits illustrate unsafe harms in its overseas manufacturing plants.…
Hays, J. (2013). Apple and Foxconn: Work conditions, problems and changes. Retrieved January 22, 2014. From http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat9/sub61/item2282.html.…
too hard on Chinese suppliers and workers. Finally, a law in China requires a labour union,…
Apple started off as “Apple Computer” by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. It has experienced a strong brand, rapid growth and high profit in the smart-phone and tablet market worldwide. By 2010, the company viewed itself as a “mobile device company”. Throughout time, Apple has witnessed changes in management and differences of opinion together with missed opportunities, and has sadly lost its competitive advantage to some other competitors like Microsoft, Dell, and Gateway.…
Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Deng Xiaoping has remarkably changed the outlook of China’s economy. China has gone from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy, which is still influenced by the Marxist perspective, by pursuing a third way between a command economy and the capitalist alternative.…
contributions based on the total wages paid to all their employees), and individuals (who make…
Right off, I think it becomes apparent that their business decision making philosophies use one or both theology and egoism. The CEO and executives find that such otherwise unacceptable working conditions are justified when the company as a whole takes in such high profits, and even if they do so at the expense of the health Chinese people, and other foreign…
According to a report, employees were paid a minimum of $50 a month, force to work overtime, and the dormitories were in poor living conditions. As a result Apple audited the subcontractors operations, but appears as if they failed to communicate, and instead the managers at Hongfujin--the subcontracting company being audited, filed a defamation lawsuit against the journalists. In order to avoid ethical issues or mismanagement issues, Apple needs to enforce strict labor standards with its subcontractors, moreover, oversee production, working, and living conditions. Furthermore, the lawsuit appears to be an intimidation tactic, Hongfujin should have waited for Apple’s report to be completed and then plan an action to improve conditions for its employees then follow up with issuing a face-saving…
Labor relations in China have become more and more complex, labor conflicts have occurred frequently, and thus labor disputes have been growing with a rate much faster than that of the development of GDP in the past decade. They could become a potential obstacle to the economic development if not appropriately managed. The paper studies the condition of labor relations, and probes the profound reasons for it, and compares it across the world in order to give a description for it.…