Apple's Corporate Social Responsibility Challenges

The assignment examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges faced by Apple Inc., particularly within its global supply chain. It discusses issues like labor practices, environmental impact, and stakeholder management that have impacted the company's reputation and operations. The paper also explores strategies Apple is implementing to address these challenges, including improved monitoring, supplier relationships, and a focus on automation and bringing manufacturing back to the United States.

Running head: CASE STUDY OF APPLE
Case study of apple
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
The company..............................................................................................................................2
The issues...................................................................................................................................3
Response to the issues................................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report consists of a detailed evaluation of the problems of the Apple Company. It
consists of the problems that the company faced, which made their growth slower gradually.
The report majorly concentrates on the evaluation of the problems that were faced by the
company and the reasons behind the problems. The problems had ethical concerns to some
extent. The problems were majorly because of the ego problems of the leaders of the
company. The company had some pitfalls, which were not dealt seriously. Apart from this the
lack of innovation stopped the growth of the company. The price range of the company were
not changed which acted as a barrier for the growth of the company. Towards the end of the
report there are recommendations that could be adopted by the company to improve their
sale.
The company
The focus of the report is the company named Apple. It was initially a start up
business which dealt with the phones and computers. The company was founded by the three
friends named, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in the year 1976. It became
world`s largest profitable organization with the manufacture of some attractive products like
the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod. The journey of the company has remained troublesome and
Steve Jobs was considered the most responsible one for the decline of the company. It
brought revolution in the market of gadgets and technology (Arocha 2017). The company
started to make much profit with the gradual progress. The company slowly started to face
the decline in the later years. The sale of the iPhone increased the revenue of the company.
The company launched the apple watches. It was an inquisitive quarry whether the launch of
the watches now could bring about a change or the competitor of the company, the Silicon
Valley could again rule over in the market (Abraham 2014).

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The issues
There are many problems that the company faced after the launch of the products. The
company was able to attain the status of monopoly in the markets of America. The initial
problem of Apple was the ego of Jobs. He believed in the autocratic leadership style. The
success of the company totally was dependent upon the strategies that were framed by Jobs.
He was dominating and he did not consider the decision of his employees and co-partners and
did not value their decision. In spite of all these pitfalls, he was the one to predict the
potential of the company. Initially they began to work on Apple 1. The Apple 2 was
introduced in the year 1977 that proved to be successful. The issue that the company faced
was the high competition in the market (Bell and Taylor 2016). Apple lost half of the markets
to IBM. It was because of the lackluster sales of Apple 3 that the company faced a decrease
in the revenue. The company did not focus on the creation of new products. They
concentrated on the innovation of the products. They focused on the development of the
existing products. They did not focus on the launch of the new products as a result the
company lagged behind. They had to depend only on few of the existing products like the
iPad, iPhone. The internal ego problems were another major issue that the company faced.
The CEO of the company, Tim Cook who was selected once by Jobs himself removed Jobs
from the company itself. Tim Cook on the other hand was a transformational leader. He
considered the opinion of his employees and took into account their suggestions. Job gave up
his shares and he produced his resignation and he diverted his attention to another start up
named, Pixar Animation Studios. (Fan and Song 2016) The main problem was not the growth
but that they became greedy. Instead of manufacturing the quality goods they started
becoming greedy. One of the reasons of the decline of the company was not the stop in the
growth but that the management became greedy for profit; as a result the competitors were
able to make much profit in the market (Gershon 2013). The internal problem of the company

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was the ego issues between the two leaders. Cook believed in transformational leadership and
Jobs believed in autocratic leadership. The clash of egos between the leaders and their
leadership styles was the major issue in the company.
Response to the issues
Apple needs to undertake several measures in order to respond to the challenges they
are facing. The company was however, able to manufacture and design various products
under the supervision of Jobs, which consumers loved to use and own. Apple’s supply chain
management has provided the company with flexibility for meeting the fluctuating demand,
as ninety percent parts of Apple’s iphone were being manufactured overseas. Therefore, the
company could take the designs and offer it to the Asian factories, in order to deliver to the
customers with seventy percent gross margins. Offshore outsourcing however, helped in
reducing operation costs of Apple, but it decreased the company’s control as well as
monitoring over the manufacturing practices and processes (Streeter 2015). The dominating
nature of Steve made him a negative figure in the company. The autocratic leadership style of
Jobs led to an internal conflict in the company.
Apple needs to manufacture new and innovative products, instead of bringing
innovation in their existing products. The company needs to focus more on consumer
demands rather than their profitability. They can even persuade the content suppliers for
developing the content of the products and devices. Moreover, Steve concentrated on other
jobs, which hampered the company’s progress ((Wenzel and Voigt 2016). The competition
grew tougher and they lagged behind their competitors. In order to gain the competitive
advantage, the company must set an agenda for the business. Risk management factors help
in reducing the risks in the business. The high price of the products remains a debatable issue.
If Apple continues to chase the current pricing as well as maximize short term strategy of

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profitability, it may gain huge profits but it will lose its platform as well as share of
ecosystem in most parts of the world (Roberts and Ubillos 2014). Apart from this the
transformational leadership style of Tim cook made the situations better. He interacted with
the employees and asked for some valuable inputs them.
It is reasonable for the company to apply various ethical standards in different
countries to cut the costs. However, the company must correspond to the countries’ ethical
standards rather than doing whatever they like. The ethical standards of different countries
vary because of their different legal, political, social and cultural environments. In the
developing countries people mostly care about their welfare and to earn money for feeding
their family. Therefore, the company needs high ethical norms in developed countries like
United States, Japan and others. For example; they must offer higher rates to the employees.
However, in developing countries, with lower social norms and ethics, the company should
apply lower standards of ethics and meet the lowest levels of the country (Northouse 2017).
Only the products are not going to bring profit for the company. This was believed by Cook.
He thought that the equal participation of the employees could create a healthy environment
in the company. After Jobs left the company Cook maintained this.
Media plays a key role in shaping Apple’s corporate social responsibility
expectations. Moreover, with the advent of social media it has become much easier. The
strategies of media and social media have helped in shaping as well as reshaping the
company’s CSR expectations. Through transparent and authentic conversations via media
and social media, it has become easier to understand the consumers’ behavior and attitude. It
has also become easier to influence them by maintaining a good relationship. Media and
social media help in promoting the good works of the company, which in turn proves
beneficial for the company’s success and growth. Moreover, online networking helps in

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improving the image of the brand externally. It also boosts the company’s morale (Thao and
Tsanthaiwo 2017).
Recommendations
Apple can use its strengths in order to expand its network of distribution. The
company can even use its strong brand image for the rapid processes of innovation. It can
successfully launch and develop its new lines of products as it has strong brand recognition.
Threats from aggressive competitors are the major issues, which affects the players of the
industry. Therefore, a strong agenda must be set up and suitable actions are to be taken in
order to address the existing threats of the market. Continuous innovation and launching new
products will also help the company to tackle the competitors. New marketing techniques
must be employed in order to gain more consumers’ appreciation and attain their loyalty
(McDowell 2014).
The company has an opportunity in expanding their networking unit of distribution.
The company has a very limited network distribution; therefore, it should work and take the
opportunity in consideration. It needs to change the entire strategy of distribution and
implement new ones, which will in turn prove the company’s efficiency and effectiveness.
This will be very beneficial for the company’s growth and progress. Expanded network
distribution can help the company reach new customers in this globalised world. Moreover,
they should also focus on the new lines of products, as its existing product lines are greatly
successful. Hence, further innovation should include launching of new products, which in
turn will help in supporting the growth and progress of the industry. The company has
opportunities in this field for their further growth, despite of the increasing competition in the
global market.

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Apple’s supply chain management has provided the company with flexibility for
meeting the fluctuating demand, as ninety percent parts of Apple’s iphone were being
manufactured overseas. Offshore outsourcing however, helped in reducing operation costs of
Apple, but it decreased the company’s control as well as monitoring over the manufacturing
practices and processes. Due to the absence of monitoring, the work procedures of suppliers
and employees were very difficult to look after. It also hampered the corporate social
responsibilities of the company. With different stakeholders and expectations, it became
difficult to manage the consumers’ demands and satisfaction. It also became hard to manage
the buyer and supplier relationship which hampered the company’s progress. Moreover,
challenges arose when differences in the organization’s procedures, questioned its objectives.
Therefore, the company needs to set a perfect business agenda, in order to manage its supply
chain management system.
Conclusion
To conclude, Apple can take some major steps regarding its corporate social
responsibility challenges, which are being faced in the company’s supply chain. The
company is even working on their issues in order to improve their working conditions and
procedures. It is engaging more in monitoring and tracking activities, in order to keep a track
on the offshore operations. To regain the control, the company is focusing more on bringing
its manufacturing units back to United States. Furthermore, they are trying to stress on
robotization and automation in future. They would like to engage in more CSR activities in
order to improve their customer base and attain their loyalty.

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References
Abraham, M., 2014. Five Leadership skills that made Steve Jobs transform Apple.
Arocha, J.B., 2017. Getting to the Core: A Case Study on the Company Culture of Apple Inc.
Bell, E. and Taylor, S., 2016. Vernacular mourning and corporate memorialization in framing
the death of Steve Jobs. Organization, 23(1), pp.114-132.
Fan, Q. and Song, X., Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited, 2016. Display
screen portion with graphical user interface. U.S. Patent D747,350.
Gershon, R.A., 2013. Digital media innovation and the Apple iPad: Three perspectives on the
future of computer tablets and news delivery. Journal of Media Business Studies, 10(1),
pp.41-61.
Johnson, A.R. and Folkes, V.S., 2015. Does One Bad Apple Spoil the Whole Bunch? A
Social Identity Explanation of Consumers’ Reactions to Employee Morality. In Proceedings
of the 2007 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 9-9). Springer,
Cham.
Khan, U.A., Alam, M.N. and Alam, S., 2015. A Critical Analysis of Internal and External
Environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), pp.955-961.
McDowell, G.L., 2014. Cracking the Tech Career: Insider Advice on Landing a Job at
Google, Microsoft, Apple, Or Any Top Tech Company. John Wiley & Sons.
Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.
Roberts, S.M. and Ubillos, R., Apple Inc., 2014. Display screen or portion thereof with
graphical user interface. U.S. Patent D713,855.

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Streeter, T., 2015. Steve Jobs, Romantic Individualism, and the Desire for Good
Capitalism. International Journal of Communication, 9, p.19.
Thao, T. and Tsanthaiwo, S., 2017. Apple Inc. In the Years to Come.
Wenzel, H. and Voigt, S., 2016. Correlation between Corporate Culture and Corporate
Strategy: Google vs. Apple and Daimler vs. Siemens. GRIN Verlag.