MGMT2724: OHS Workplace Approach - An Apple Company Case Study

This essay provides an overview of the workplace approach to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) within the context of Apple Company, a global technology leader. It highlights Apple's growth, innovation, and social responsibility, while also acknowledging challenges related to overseas as...Read More

Overview of the Workplace Approach to OHS 1
OVERVIEW OF THE WORKPLACE APPROACH TO OHS
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Overview of the Workplace Approach to OHS
Over the last ten years, the Apple Company has grown to become one of the most
powerful companies in the world of technology and innovation spanning over generations and
cutting across continents and geographical locations. The Giant American tech company
represents innovation, creativity, and quality at its best. The company is prolifically known for
its novelty, regarding technological creation, unique product experiences, and designs. The
Apple Company has quickly grown to become one of the most sought after entities by both
consumers of her products and investors alike. The portfolios of these investors have well been
served by holding firm to the company. The company has had a fair share of negative media
publicity due to emergent issues that surround the company’s overseas assembly plant in China
that have been known to seek cheap child labor and at the same time subject the workers to tough
working and living conditions. Like any other technology company, the Apple Company has had
her fair share of the issues that touch on suppliers and management of resources. Despite the
gloom, though the company remains one of the most socially responsible businesses in the world
and this essay is an analysis of the same.
Overview of the Workplace and its Approaches to OHS
Apple Company is an American technology conglomerate that specializes in the creation,
design, and manufacture of technological tools like desktop computers, laptop computers,
smartphones, tablets, iPods and the sale of online computer services via subscription. The
company was founded by Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak in the year 1976 with
the sole purpose of selling and creating personal computers (Aggarwal, 2015). Steve Jobs is the
most popular of the founders for the pivotal role that he played in the starting of the company.
The Company was incorporated as Apple Computers Inc. in 1977. The company headquarters is

Overview of the Workplace Approach to OHS 3
in Cupertino, California. Other products under the belt of the company include the Apple smart
watch, Apple TV, software media player and a web browser (Aldrich et al., 2015). About
revenue, the Apple Company is the largest technology company of information, and it is the
largest technology company regarding total assets.
With a highly versatile mobile market, the technology industry remains one of the most
risky businesses to invest in yet one of the most rewarding at the same time. Several factors pit
the Apple Company at the top of the pyramid of the world leaders in computer manufacturers
and innovators (Alshubiri, 2015). The Company employs effective research into the needs of the
market, superior design, innovation, and marketing strategies to get their products to their
consumers. The use of effective research and innovation ensures that their consumers always
have something to look up to with every new launch (Ansari & Hasan, 2016). For a long time,
fans of personal computers enjoyed buying their parts and putting them together on their own.
Alshubiri (2015), posits that at the same time, makers of PCs were building standard hardware’s
and software to be assembled into Personal Computers. The Apple Company has taken the
design standards of the personal computer into an entire new level. The Company prides in
taking the ordinary and turning it into something unique and extraordinary. With the right
strategies, the Apple Company has the capacity to stand out from the competition and remain a
leader in the world of computers.
Hazards and how they are Being Addressed
The Apple Company has to deal with an array of hazards that range from environmental,
economic to political and managerial issues. Apple Inc. was formerly referred to as the Apple
Company and it is a manufacturer and distributor of personal computers, consumer electronics,
servers, and computer software. The Company also distributes media content in the form of

Overview of the Workplace Approach to OHS 4
computer software, music, and entertainment (Bank Muscat , 2016). The Company was started
by Steve Jobs and his college friends. At the time of beginning, the Company Jobs was a 21
years old college drop out. Jobs lived with his parents in Los Altos in California. He had two
friends with whom he would hang out in the garage of his parents’ house. This garage would go
on to become the first home of the world’s greatest computer in all of man’s history.
Steve Jobs and his friend Wayne had both worked at a company for making video games.
His other friend Wozniak had worked for the Hewlett Puckered Company at that time. The three
put their various experiences and together led to the formation of the Apple Company in first of
April 1976 (Cedillo Torres et al., 2012). Steve Jobs and his friend would go on to become leaders
of the greatest computer company in the world. The company started out with the sole intention
of making personal computers and later venture into the world of smartphone manufacturing
(Cruz et al., 2011). The Company was founded in Cupertino California by the two friends. It was
known as the Apple Company Inc. for the first 30 years that it was in existence.
Wozniak built the Apple personal computer kits at the beginning before he developed
technology for developing the same kits. The first Apple computers went in sale on July of the
same year that the company began (El-Masri et al., 2016). Business magnate Mark Mukkula
provided the needed capital for the beginning of the company at the start of the business. The
company has grown to become the world’s largest in terms of the amount of worth in assets
(Farrell, 2016). The computer differed with major rivals at the time of its introduction into the
market because it had colored graphics compared to the other computers, which had black and
white graphics only.
The Apple Company takes part in the design, manufacture, and the marketing of smart
phones, computers, and other technological devices like the smart watches and the iPods. IPods

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are portable digital music players in which music can be stored and played. The company is
headquartered in the United States and has many regional headquarters in Asia Pacific, Japan,
greater China, and the Americas (El-Masri et al., 2016). Before the formation of the company,
they sold Blue Boxes with telephone buttons on them. People used the Blue Boxes to make
telephone calls from payphones and did not have to pay for these calls. The Company produced
its first iPhone in 2008 (Cruz et al., 2011). The Company did not truly begin until the debut of
the second version of their computers in 1977. The Apple Company is presently the world’s most
valuable company with almost a trillion dollar market value. Some researchers believe that the
company is dramatically undervalued and could actually be in the regions of $ 1.25 trillion (Cruz
et al., 2011).
Various organizations rank global brands based on various metrics. The Apple Company
is ranked as the most valuable brand in the world. The only other company that competes with
the Apple Company is Microsoft and Google, which come in at second and third positions
respectively (Bank Muscat , 2016). The Company reports profits of up to $ 18 billion, which are
the largest for any single company in the entire world. The biggest moneymaker in the company
is the iPhone. The company earned more than 90% of all the profits realized from the
smartphones market in the entire world. The company reports problems of cash hoarding in the
sense that it does not spend enough (Glowacki-Dudka & Treff, 2016). The company has an
advantage over rivals because it has won in almost all the wars it has staged with them. The
Company has clashed with Microsoft, IBM, and Google and has always appeared to win.
The Apple Company largely depends on its marketing for success. The Company has a
generic strategy that is directly related to its strategy in pricing and the marketing of its products.
The Company demonstrates that the generic strategy it uses is a major source of success against

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other firms like the Samsung Company, LG, and other smartphone brands (Groves & LaRocca,
2011). The Company’s intensive strategy for growth supports their ability to maintain their
strong position in the global market. The Company prides itself with a high level of innovation,
creativity, and high-level craftsmanship in the design of their products.
The Apple Company records high levels of success albeit their high prices compared to
other smartphone and computer products in the market. The Company’s generic strategy is
aligned with the Porter’s model and follows in the Company’s intensive growth. The generic
growth of the company follows the development of key features that focuses on beating their
competitors (Hackert et al., 2012). The Company emphasizes on the manufacture of elegant
designs, user-friendly interfaces, and over the top level of branding that it different from that of
its competitors. The broad differentiation of its products means that the company always aims to
set its brand apart from that of its competitors.
The Apple Company primarily focuses on differentiation of key features that are
beneficial to the consumers. The Company reaches out to the business community and to
individual by the sale of the MacBook product line, which is efficient in the lines of business.
The generic strategy of the broad differentiation of the company enables the company to remain
the leader in the world of business (Heorhiadi et al., 2014). Apple’s use of the broad
differentiation strategy has had tremendous impact on the business prospects of the company for
all of their time in existence. To continue to apply this strategy in their business the company has
to continue placing emphasis on research, development, and innovation.
The Apple Company is the largest smart phone manufacturer and seller in the United
States taking 41.6% of the entire US mobile market. Market capitalization is one of the greatest
assets of the Apple Company (Hughes et al., 2016). The Apple Company has to continue coming

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up with new products that employ new technological innovation. Apple competitors eventually
catch up with their new trends and hence the generic strategy makes them want to come up with
new products to meet the needs of the market and to stay ahead of the competition. Continuity in
innovation and creation of new products is hence one of the company’s strategies in helping it
keep at the top of the competition (Zula & Chermack, 2014). The company face the need to
ensure that it expands its market needs to help it remain relevant over the long run. The
Company does not narrow down on any specific market segment and this allows it to sell to
more people in h the world of technology (Warrick, 2014).
Findings and Recommendations
The main undoing of the Apple Company would be its market price that is hardly able to
reach out to the needs of the low end of the market, which is majorly dominated by the Android
platform. The disadvantage can be covered up with the fact that the company delivers high
quality products in all of its offerings (Wang et al., 2015). The Apple Company uses
development of products as its main intensive strategy for growth. Effective development of
products requires the company to remain consistent in offering attractive products to expand its
market share and grow its performance (Sardar et al., 2011). The Company carries out the
implementation of this intensive strategy in growth by the use of innovation in the processes of
research and development. The mission and vision statements of the products are specific about
the development of products for the wider market. The Company keeps on innovating by the use
of products like the iPhone, the iPod, and the smart watch (Sardar et al., 2011). In the process of
innovation, the company also develops new products for the consumer market. The creation of
new products and models allows the firm to generate more revenue streams and this places them
at an added advantage over their competition.

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The Apple Company employs the use of market penetration as the second most
significant strategy for growth. Venturing into new markets allows the company to expand its
revenue streams and allows the Apple Company to make more profit. This approach is important
as it helps the Apple Company to make an impact in places where it has not had significant effect
(Sarabi et al., 2015). The Apple Company employs the use of promotion through various modern
means of communication to reach out to their market. The use of advertisement and flashy
commercial on the social media sites encourages more people to purchase the Apple products
(Porter, 1996). This strategy agrees with the Company’s broad differentiation strategy because it
allows the company to capture more of the market share.
Strategic Recommendation
Traditionally there are key business imperatives that have been used to judge the
effectiveness of the business. Competitive differentiation, the amount of sales made, the ability
to attract and retain talent, return on investment, efficiency in operation, and level of profitability
are the traditional parameter that has been used to measure the amount of success in business
(Oman, 2014). With the advent of new technology, globalization, and communication that is
more interpersonal the parameters that measure the success of the business have effectively been
altered to reflect the present reality (Lakshmi, 2014). A new element today is making a prolific
difference in gauging the overall performance of an organization. Corporate social responsibility
is changing the way that people look at businesses to determine whether or not they would like to
foster a relationship with the ideals of the company. As the world moves deeper and deeper into
stratifies, modes of industrialization in the new age of commercialization industries look at
consumers as partners that need to be retained than as passive purchasers of products and
services.

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Corporate Social Responsibilities can be defined as practices that are carried out by
companies with the aim of giving back or benefiting the society. Corporate Responsibility for the
business can be taken to mean many things. At times, it means giving away a part of the
company proceeds to charity. Other times it means to champion for green business solutions in
the society in ways that lead to the protection of the environment (Khandelwal & Taneja, 2010).
Corporate Social Responsibility in the business environment today can be placed into four broad
categories. The four broad categories include efforts to protect the environment, efforts towards
philanthropy, practices of labor and ethics and volunteering.
Positive Corporate Social Responsibility efforts boost the morale of the employees, and
this leads to better retention of talent and reduction in the cost implications that accrue from
constant firing and hiring of new staff. The stability of the employment within the organization
normally directly translates into the stability of the corporation. With a better Corporate Social
Responsibility, there is the likelihood that the employees will be more motivated and will strive
for better work output and hence the success of the corporation. When companies have good
relationships with the local authorities, it becomes easier to work with them for the betterment of
the organization. Corporate Social Responsibility can act as a cushion in times of adversity and
emergency image destruction. Corporate Social Responsibility endears consumers to the product
and creates a relationship between them. Therefore, in the cases that there emerge cases of image
destruction it is possible for the consumers to stick to the company’s safe choice.
As a key component of creation and innovation, CSR is emerging as an avenue via which
corporations can assert the image of being a leader in not only the business that they do but also
about the life of the people that live around it. According to a 2010 research study by elder man,
of all the consumers of the products that were interviewed 67% of them said that they would

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support companies that have a huge hand in corporate social responsibility and community
outreach programs with the aim of benefiting the society. The figure was 11% more than the
same research that had been done the year before. Astute business ventures that understand the
role of Corporate Social responsibility in the promotion of the business are taking more actions
about it and are consequently allocating more funds towards that end.
Social Responsibility initiative and programs are led by Lisa Jackson. Lisa is placed
under the Office of the Vice President of initiatives that cater to the responsibility of the apple
company to the environment. The office of corporate social responsibility is designed to directly
report to the office of the Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook and this goes to show the
significant role that philanthropy and association to the public play in the heart of the
management of the Apple Company. With Steve Jobs at the helm of the management of the
Company, there was not much attention paid to CSR, but with Tim Cook, the situation has
totally been different. The Company values association with the environment to the point that it
has a special report every year that outlines the details of important Corporate Social
Responsibility initiatives and programs that the company takes part. The Company carries out
CSR in various categories.
When looking at Apple Company’s responsibility to the environment and the consumers,
it is easy to select it out from the rest of the crowd. The Company is known to exceed the energy
star guidelines. According to the Clicking Clean Report by Greenpeace, the Apple Company is
the only company to be awarded a clean energy index of 100% (Cedillo Torres et al., 2012,
p.62). By the year 2014, all Apple operations in the United States were powered by green energy
whereas 87% of the Company’s global operations were powered by renewable energy. The
Company operates programs of recycling of electronic waste in 99% of all the countries in which

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it appreciates. Beginning the year 2008 the company has recycled more than 508 million pounds
of electronic waste from landfills. Apple is hence not only a leader in technology and innovation
but also in CSR.
Conclusion
In more than one way, companies are using all that it in their powers to create a positive
image about themselves to the consumers. Companies are more interested in delivering results in
every way possible. Research studies conducted in the world of business reveal that world
leaders in business usually consistently take the same approach to Corporate Social
Responsibility. There is a formula for the how market leaders choose to invest in CSR with the
aim of accumulating the best results possible out of their investments. A partnership with
experts, concentrated efforts, depth of information, a clear theory of change and a social purpose
based on business are some of the markers of the way that market leaders like the Apple
Company invest in the Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies are interested in spearhead
mission that are unique to them, and that set them aside from the crowd.

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Appendix

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Figure 1 Market Capitalization

Overview of the Workplace Approach to OHS 17
The Apple Company is the largest smart phone manufacturer and seller in the United States
taking 41.6% of the entire US mobile market.