TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1 Ethics at Apple............................................................................................................................1 Ethical Issue at Apple..................................................................................................................1 Sustainability at Apple................................................................................................................2 Intellectual property issue...........................................................................................................2 Apple's corporate culture............................................................................................................3 Supply chain management issues at Apple Incorporation...........................................................5 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION Critical review is the report and evaluation of the thoughts and data in an article. It shows point of view of writer in light on existing knowledge on the subject and also acquired from related text. It refers to carefully thinking and effectively as well as taking into consideration both the strength and weaknesses in the material under review(Moore, 2017). Study is based on Apple. It is the multinational technology company which design, evolves and sells consumer electronics products. This purpose of this report is too critical review of different ethical issues, culture, supply chain management issues faced by the selected firm. MAIN BODY Ethics at Apple According to thatGuerrini and et.al., (2017)Ethics is division of philosophy which includes ordering, defensive and fixing approaches of right and wrong conduct. Ethics are more essential part of the business which are followed by all employees at the workplace. Every firm tried to assure that their employees work display proper conduct in all situations. As per the view of Biller-Andorno and Capron, (2016)Company like Apple tried to create innovative, high quality goods and services as well as presenting honesty in every business communication. There are four main principles contribute to integrity like honesty, respect, confidentiality and conformity. Also, company provides particular policies relating to corporate governance, focusing on conflict of interest and guidelines on reporting supposed conduct on the website. Firm also give worker with business conduct helpline which they can utilization to reports misconduct to Audit and Finance Committee of Apple. This can help to increase the image and reputation of Apple in the technology industry. Also, this can assist to competitive advantages and create top position of firm. Following ethics properly, company can improve their performance and productivity in the industry. Ethical Issue at Apple In order to thatSandler, (2016)There are many ethical issues that can damage the image and reputation of firm. Ethical issues like privacy, price fixing, rioting, sustainability, intellectual property and so on which can impact on success of the firm like Apple. Due to serious misconductorfailinginaddressingrisksappropriatelywhichcandamagethesuperior reputations. In this contextLaFrance and et.al., (2018)privacy in relation to consumer tracking which controversial issue in recent year. This kind of issue occur due to raise of social 1
networking, utilization of internet and mobile devices which can impact on consumer tracking by firms like Apple. Thus, detected breach in privacy is likely to outcome in rebound against the firm. For that, company disclosed that certain smartphone apps and software as well as use of internal GPSdevices to collect the information of location on phone by consumer and government in relation misconduct on user privacy. As compared to thatMoore, (2017) Company improved privacy features in iOS which involves increased Wi-Fi security and policy which location feature are turned off through default on new iPhone. This can help to increase the image and reputation of Apple in the technology industry. Also, this can assist to competitive advantages and create top position of firm.Following ethics properly, company can improve their performance and productivity in the industry. Sustainability at Apple As per the view ofGuerrini and et.al., (2017)Sustainability is the largest ethical issue which become greener firm and decrease environmental effect of their services. Also, it has limitation addressing the producing, utilizing and recycling of their goods. Firm strives to build quality, long-lasting goods with materials appropriate for recycling. In this contextBiller-Andorno and Capron, (2016)Apple is planned devolution in which they push people to replace or upgrade their devices whenever Apple comes out with updated version. Therefore, company needs to make sure that adopting the sustainability in the firm which can help to reduce the environmental impact of their facilities. This can help to increase the image and reputation of Apple in the technology industry. Also, this can assist to competitive advantages and create top position of firm. Intellectual property issue According to thatSandler, (2016)The theft of intellectual property is key concern and issue which company aggressively pursues. Company is very serious about keeping their proprietary information secret to prevent other firms from acquiring their thoughts. Company face the issue relating to intellectual property theft in case of coping the operating system and ROM of Apple by Franklin. In order to that, Apply filed lawsuit against Franklin for this kind of illegal situation. After that, court determined that codes and programmes are protected under copyright laws eventually. This regulation given technology firms with larger protection of intellectual property theft. This kind of law influence highly and positively on the operation and property of Apple. 2
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As per the view ofMoore, (2017)Company faces many ethical issues in relation to licensed technology. In this case, Apple filed lawsuit against Microsoft in terms of claimed the licensing agreement for Window 1.0. The court ruled in favour of Microsoft in which deciding the licence did not cover look and feel of Macintosh GUI. Although, there are similarities among two cases, court subordinated that Window did not violate copyright regulation and licensing agreements in simple term through matching Macintosh GUI. This kind of decision negatively on operation and image as well as reputation of the Apple. As compared to thatGuerrini and et.al., (2017)Apple claims an overarching ethical issue which is related to legitimacy. In terms of, company pursuing honestly believes boundaries on their patents and simply trying to cast their challengers in bad light to gain market share. It can seem Apple is too competitive that companies do not adequately secure their intellectual property can simply have it copied through rivals. Apple's corporate culture According to theHickman and Silva, (2018) corporate culture refers to interaction of employees and management in the organisation to handle and solve the various business transaction such as the change in environment, competitors strategies etc. it is rooted in the company goal, objectives, mission, vision and approach to the customers, labour and grater communities. From the case study of Apple it can be concluded that Apple has skilled employee in the organisation and a strong corporate culture to manage the external hurdles and resolve the various issues. Apple transform itself from computers to strong customer electronics company. According to the case study apple follow the evangelism concept in the organisation to use the people to promote corporation product. The chief evangelism function is to spread the good image and the quality of the product to the customer to attract them toward the organisation. They are also the loyal customer of the company. According to the authorZhao, Teng and Wu, (2018) evangelism make a positive impact on the performance of the company. It reduces the advertising cost and increases the mouth publicity of the quality of products of Apple. It helps to attract the customer and help to share the satisfaction level of loyal customer to the new ones. But it also argued byKolko, (2015) the author that the evangelism also spread the negative image of company. If the customer is dissatisfied with the product than it they also influence there friends and family to not buy the products of Apple. Evangelism only works when employee are willingly ready to spread the news about the company. To improve the morale of the employees Steve Jobs implement two changes in the 3
organisation. Jobs involve the employees by organising debate in the company and create the vision in which employee believe. It helps them to feel a part of the company. The pressure on the employees to spread the news make negative impact. As per the views ofGunter and Hall, (2017) Apple has a unique corporate culture which differentiate it from other companies culture. Jobs encouraged employee's to think out of the box. The innovation, original thinking is quite common in the culture of the Apple. They involve the employees in the decision making process, and plan the strategy for the organisation which help the corporate to get the different views on the critical aspect and provide different ways to solve the complication. But it also criticises by theLandry, Bernardi and Bosco, (2016) that the involvement of employees may affect the privacy and secrecy of the information of the customer or the success formula of Apple in market. In the views ofBorodai, (2017) to improve the corporate culture Apple focuses on the retail employees to provide their best services to the customer to feel them valuable and encourage them to purchase the Apple products. To improve the relation with the customer Apple provide extensive training and development program to their employees and help them to learn the new skills to develop their personality and analytical skills. They also provide the internship program to the students and freshers in the company so they can learn about the Apple performance and program. But from the view point ofSchroeder, (2017) the negative aspect of focusing retail employees is that the training and development program unnecessarily increases the cost of the company. The internship program also reason for wastage of money and resources because intern work for view months and its not necessary that they attached to the company after completion of their internship. According to theWilliamson, (2018) Apple also focuses on the environment aspect with the employee concern. To reduce the environment impact it offers different incentives to the employeeswhousethepublictransportratherthantothepersonalvehicles.Forthe sustainability Apple invest $850 in solar power. It also provides the free buses which runs on the biodiesel and provide the different facility such as 300 electric charging vehicles, fitness centre, underground auditorium by the budget of $5 billion. The solar technology help to reduce the environment impact and sustainable growth. But from the view point of (Warrick, 2017) the use of solar energy also have some negative impact. In the bad and cloudy weather the solar energy 4
does not work and create the problem in transportation which are based on the solar plant. It may create delay the work which are based on these solar energy plant. Supply chain management issues at Apple Incorporation From the view point ofMonczka and et.al., (2015) Apple faces the suppliers code of conduct and pre forms factory audit in the organisation. The pre form factory audit also make a positive impact on the performance of the company. It helps them to conduct successful audit and evaluate the labour practices which improve the performance of the employees and labour and encourage them to perform better in the company to get the higher incentives and rewards. Pre forms factory audit help to improve the compliances and supply chain management in the company. Apple helps to remove the underage workers need from the supply chain by conducting the audit. If they found any compliances or violation of company policies than they re – evaluate the performance within the 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. It provides effective measures to eliminate the compliances and if the suppliers are not able to improve than they drop out the suppliers. But from the view point ofClarke and Boersma, (2017) the re-evaluation of the performance of the suppliers increases the cost and time of the company to focus on certain suppliers. It also affects the supply chain management of the company. Apple has to focus on such as expenses and develop new measures to improve the supplier performance and provide regular internal audit in the company so they can evaluate the performance on the basis of their work. CONCLUSION This report has summarized that company needs to protect their intellectual property for reducing theft and copying. It can be concluded that follow the sustainability for becoming greener for reducing the environmental impact. This can aid to increase image and reputation of the firm in the industry in which they operate. This can help to increase the image and reputation of Apple in the technology industry. Also, this can assist to competitive advantages and create top position of firm. 5
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REFERENCES Books and Journals Biller-Andorno, N. and Capron, A.M., 2016.Ethical issues in governing biobanks: global perspectives. Routledge. Borodai,V.,2017.BrandoftheemployerasDNAofcorporatecultureofservice company.European Research, (1). pp.34-35. Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., 2017. The governance of global value chains: Unresolved human rights, environmental and ethical dilemmas in the apple supply chain.Journal of Business Ethics,143(1). pp.111-131. Guerrini and et.al., 2017. The rise of the ethical license.Nature biotechnology.35(1). p.22. Gunter, H.M. and Hall, D. eds., 2017.Corporate elites and the reform of public education. Policy Press. Hickman,C.R.andSilva,M.A.,2018.Creatingexcellence:Managingcorporateculture, strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge. Kolko, J., 2015. Design thinking comes of age. LaFranceandet.al.,2018.IntellectualProperty:CasesandMaterials.WestAcademic Publishing. Landry, E.E., Bernardi, R.A. and Bosco, S.M., 2016. Recognition for sustained corporate social responsibility: Female directors make a difference.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,23(1). pp.27-36. Monczka, R.M., and et.al., 2015.Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning. Moore, A., 2017.Intellectual property and information control: philosophic foundations and contemporary issues. Routledge. Sandler, R. ed., 2016.Ethics and emerging technologies. Springer. Schroeder, J.E., 2017. Corporate branding in perspective: a typology.European Journal of Marketing,51(9/10). pp.1522-1529. 6
Warrick,D.D.,2017.Whatleadersneedtoknowaboutorganizationalculture.Business Horizons,60(3). pp.395-404. Williamson, B., 2018. Silicon startup schools: technocracy, algorithmic imaginaries and venture philanthropyincorporateeducationreform.CriticalStudiesinEducation,59(2). pp.218-236. Zhao, H., Teng, H. and Wu, Q., 2018. The effect of corporate culture on firm performance: Evidence from China.China Journal of Accounting Research,11(1). pp.1-19. 7