Impact of Unethical Business Practices on Growth and Sustainability: A Case Study of Apple Inc.

This paper discusses the impact of unethical business practices on the growth and sustainability of firms, with a case study of Apple Inc. It analyzes the importance of building businesses on strong ethical values and the consequences of unethical decisions. The paper also highlights the significance of ethical decision-making in small businesses.

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Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of unethical business practices in the
business and this affect the growth of the firms as well as their sustainability irrespective of
their sizes. Strong ethical business practices are the hallmark of the good company that many
be big or small. As business is not built overnight, the business leaders need to practice
setting of the ethical examples by creating new policies as well as new procedures which
govern the activities of the employees. The ethical practices of the firms are able to value the
actions of the business with strong ethical practices in the business reputation as well as the
company brands (Pearson 2017). This paper will be critically analysing the importance of
building business on the basis of strong ethical values that limit risk of business in one hand
enhance the reputation as well as sustainability of the companies on the other. It will be
detailing the case of Apple Inc.’s most important unethical decision so that the impact of this
practices on the small businesses can be understood.
Ethical business decisions literature review:
Ethical business decision making is a discipline that helps in identifying as well as
resolving issues in business. The ethical business decision making process needs awareness r
the sensitivity to the ethical issues which can arise in the business process. Proper
understanding of ethical business decisions can help in finding relevant issues as the part of
the overall decisions (Williamson et al. 2018) . For ensuring adequate examination of the
ethical issues there need a careful discussion among the interested parties. This dialogue is
essential for conduct and the evaluation. The process of ethical business decisions if applied
regularly, can help the business in creating positive image in the midst of the supplier’s
customers and other stakeholders. According to Grant, Arjoon. And McGhee (2017), the
business ethics is essential for the sustainable growth of the companies. Here these authors

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have mentioned about the ethical theories which are effective to provide guidance for the
normative behaviour and the ethical reflection. In such corporate ethics, the programmes are
greatly influenced by these theories of ethical decision making.
On the other hand, Spence (2016) has also mentioned that through CDR policies, the
business can create a good relationship with the society in number of ways. Here the author
has detailed the CSR policies of the companies help them to understand the ethical decision
making process. The stakeholder theory that the author has used in the article relates to the
theories of organisational management and business ethics. Here the authorities of the
companies make such decisions which positively or negatively impact on the entities like
suppliers, employees, customers, local communities and creditors. On the other hand Saha
(2015) has ascribed with the fact that the CSR theories of the companies mainly detailed
Carroll’s CSR pyramid.
According to Williamson et al. (2018), it is the responsibilities of the firms that they
offer their best to their stakeholders and in such aspect they are to maintain customer
orientation. Here the companies put focus on the understanding and application of the
customers that demonstrates the increase in the performance of the firms. Through proper
customer orientation, the firms maintain their positive status and reputation in the markets.
May, Chang and Shao (2015) has conformed with the idea that for any type of business,
moral identification is a necessity where the management of the companies will be exhibiting
the ethical traits like care, compassion and kindness to all the entities associated with the
business. The authors have connected the social identity theory with the theory of moral self
so that the employees of the firms are attracted, motivated and retained (Paik, Lee and Pak
2019). The more socially responsible the companies are, the more they will be benefitted.
They will be able to grab the attention of the employees, the customers, the shareholders and

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many others to create a dependable image in the minds of these stakeholders that make the
sustainable growth possible.
Ethical business decisions of case Apple:
Apple is one of the giant corporation of the world that is currently regulating the
technological advancement of the world through its highly efficient and innovative work
process. It is apple that has pioneered the upper hand technicalities of the mobile and
computer devices thus have effectively dominated the world business in many ways.
Established in 1997, the company has been operating in the global market for more than two
decades from its headquarters, situated in California. The company culture of Apple is so
impressive that many of the global corporations tend to follow the business model of Apple
Inc. The first and foremost aspect of the ethical culture followed in the company is its flat
organizational structure. The flatter the organisational structure is, the more the
communication will be transparent. The innovative ideas from the employees therefore
transmitted to the upper level management that directly gets utilised in the production or
services. In addition to this, flat organisational structure enable the company to work more
ethically making the employees and management to feel satisfied and attached with the
organization.
Moreover the company has sued some of the most important corporations in the world
for patent infringement. Apple also used the process of evangelism to spread message
positive about Apple Inc. These teams are employed gain support for the products by the
company. It is the chief method to develop good connection with the customer bases. These
evangelists are not only the loyal customers but also play the role of marketing mechanism on
behalf of the company. In addition to this, the management of the company also prefer
employee input, with respect that leads the company to become the best place to work. It has

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a unique corporate culture which gets promoted by the method of empowering employees
that convince them that they must abide by the four principles for contributing the integrity.
These principles include respect, honesty, confidentiality and compliance.
In addition to the employees and customers, the company has taken care of the
transparency of communication and actions of the suppliers. The company has different
subsidiaries in different parts of the world in order to make things available in every market
and product those products in cheap expenses. The third world countries possess most of the
Apple’s subsidiaries because they have the scope for offering skilled yet cheap labour. Now
in such aspect, the problem of exploitation of the labours come into exposure. In order to
overcome his issues, the company has followed the process of signing supplier code of
conduct so that the exploitation of the labours associated with the labours can be prevented.
Therefore the company has empowered these labours to be reporting any type of misconduct
in the business scenario.
Despite of doing such things, the company has developed some of the most important
ethical issues in the business which are mainly associated with the taxes, price fixing,
privacy, supply chain management issues, sustainability of environment and many more. The
company has often been accused to develop such applications and devices which enable them
to infringe the privacy of the customers. When the Apple customers include such applications
in their devise, the company gets to know personal information of those customers which is
not unethical step taken by the company. When asked about this, the company detailed that
this step help them to understand the requirements of the customers and implement changes
for meeting those needs more appropriately.
Apple Inc. has been accused for price fixing where the company allowed the
publishers to set the e book prices for the iPad making them to profit more unethically. The

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company always strives for the best process of using technology in their devices. This often
leads them to push people to upgrade or replace the technologies they are using after the
company comes up with a new up gradation. This leads to increase of e-waste in the world
reducing trend for waste management and recycling. In addition to this, the company also
does not ascribe with the intellectual property laws. Many cases have been filed against
Apple which include the company’s use of the domain name iTunes.co.uk. Which has been
already in use by other company. Similarly the company like Cisco had sued Apple for
unethical choice for intellectual property.
As the competition level in the technology business is sky high, therefore, Apple has
been accused to threat other competitors in the same market. This action in the business is
highly offensive. In such case. The company had taken valuable employees from the
competitors to now the progress of the other companies and reduce their activities. There are
some supply chain management is uses present in the company. The problems of
exploitation, employment of the underage labours and paying less of work are pointed out in
the supply chain of Apple Inc. (Nielsen 2018). More recently the company has been accused
for the unethical steps of tax practices. The company has failed in the tax payment system by
EU and US government which has affected the reputation of the company hugely. These
unethical types by the company has affected the relationship of the company with its
customers and other stakeholders affecting the positive image it has already created in the
global market.
Ethics in small business:
From the above analysis of the giant corporation Apple Inc., it has been understood
that the highly reputed usage can be affected easily if the companies cannot perform well or
fail to make ethical decisions. This also can be seen in the small businesses also. In such case

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the size of the companies do not matter but the process of maintaining positive image in the
market is more important for the small business (Mladenovic, Martinov-Bennie and Bell
2019). Making ethical decision is more important for the small business because any type of
small business aim to grow with time. Therefore, without making ethical decision, they
cannot proceed in future nor they can reach the customers more approximately. The article by
Spence (2014), has pointed out that the small business need to focus more on the CSR
process. This is due to the fact that this is most important process to reach the customers,
employees, communities and suppliers. Therefore, the small business cannot strive without
the support from these people. They must take the responsibilities of the society, economic
growth and technological advancement of the place where they are operating. Hence making
unethical decision and actions can never help the small business to grow and enjoy
sustainability.
The study by May, Chang and Shao (2015), has pointed out that moral identification
in the small business is a necessity to reduce turnover of the employees, enroot the
companies’ to build a string and reliable supply chain and operate successfully in the highly
competitive market. In such cases, the small business often get such competitive advantage
that the larger companies often do not get (Quarshie,, Salmi and Leuschner 2016). Hence for
the growth and sustainability of the small business, ethical decision making is essential.
Conclusion:
Therefore it can be concluded that the companies must ascribe with the fact that they
need to follow the ethical business practice for growth and sustainability. The reputation in
business is one of the most important factors which can only be obtained through positive and
ethical decision making process. It is important because along with giving products and
services to the customers, they are also responsible to act ethically. This is due to the fact that

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the unethical business practices in the business can effectively impact on the growth of the
firms as well as their sustainability irrespective of their sizes. CSR policies of the companies
help them to understand the ethical decision making process that is seen in the case of Apple
as well as other business industries. In addition to this, proper handling of the employee
problems, customer relationship and supply chain management come under the responsibility
of the companies that they must handle ethically.
References:
Grant, P., Arjoon, S. and McGhee, P., 2017. Reconciling Ethical Theory and Practice.
May, D.R., Chang, Y.K. and Shao, R., 2015. Does ethical membership matter? Moral
identification and its organizational implications. Journal of applied psychology, 100(3),
p.681.
Mladenovic, R., Martinov-Bennie, N. and Bell, A., 2019. Business students’ insights into
their development of ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(1), pp.275-
287.
Nielsen, R.P., 2018. Ethical and Legal First Amendment Implications of FBI v. Apple: A
Commentary on Etzioni’s ‘Apple: Good Business, Poor Citizen?’. Journal of Business
Ethics, 151(1), pp.17-28.
Paik, Y., Lee, J.M. and Pak, Y.S., 2019. Convergence in international business ethics? A
comparative study of ethical philosophies, thinking style, and ethical decision-making
between US and Korean managers. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(3), pp.839-855.
Pearson, R., 2017. Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the
idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.

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Quarshie, A.M., Salmi, A. and Leuschner, R., 2016. Sustainability and corporate social
responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and
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Williamson, S., Ardoin, E., Clow, K.E. and Cole, H.S., 2018. An Exploratory Study of the
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