Challenges in the Business Environment
Shamona Willis Dr. Elile Awa-Momodu
BUS 475 Business and Society
March 8, 2015
Recent Changes Apple has Made to its Code of Conduct Policy
There has been no change to Apple Code of Conduct policy since 2014 when Apple started taking previous audit scores into consideration and conduct detailed risk assessments with suppliers who had not been audited in the past before awarding the new business. In 2014, we reviewed 459 suppliers, and factored their responsibility performance into our decisions. This engagement has allowed Apple to address over 700 findings related to labor standards, worker safety, permits, environmental hazards, and chemical management before production began (Apple
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Our requirements include a commitment to rigorous quality assurance. In addition, suppliers must be committed, as we are, to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility. The ideal suppliers are those who understand our culture and expectations. We value suppliers who take the time to learn about and understand our business and who look for ways to add value. These suppliers know the importance of making and meeting commitments and delivering the highest quality goods and services (Apple - Apple and Procurement).
Apple business environment is competitive and fast-paced. Apple suppliers must understand this dynamic and be agile and flexible in responding to changing business conditions. All over the world, people are building Apple products and Apple has a responsibility to make sure that each person is treated with dignity and respect. It’s a massive challenge where Apple work is never done, but each year they implement meaningful, lasting changes across their supply chain. Because of this around the globe, Apple employees are united in bringing equality, human rights, and respect for the environment to the deepest layers of their supply chain. Apple goes deep into their supply chain to enforce their social and environmental standards by empowering workers through education, demanding that suppliers treat workers fairly and ethically at all times, having safe and healthy facilities, and hold their products and processes to the highest
The role of business in an economy is involved in any type of activity that provides goods, services, or both to consumers in an attempt to earn a profit. Business drives up the standard of living of quality and quantity of goods and services available to a population and contributing to the higher quality of life in which is overall sense of well-being experienced by either an individual or a group. Business also helps raise the standard of living through taxes. However businesses do not only provide the products and services that people acquire, but they as well provide job opportunities that people
Tim requested that another employee in the accounting department that had an excellent head on his shoulders, and would be a great help to him with the project management roles. However, that employees current supervisor did not seem interested letting the good employee go for the good of the company, but rather keep the employee put to satisfy the need of his own personal departmental needs. Phil, as the director of project management, could have made it possible for the reallocation of resources and allowed the accounting personnel to be available to work with Tim on the project management task. However, he chose to not to. Instead he only expand on his previous comment about the experience levels of his staff and suggests that Tim come with some new ways to motive his mature staff into wanting the program to be a success. But,
Fully explain emotional intelligence, and give two (2) examples of the concept. Next, examine the concept of “emotional quotient” compared to traditional “intelligence quotient.”
You work in marketing for a company that produces work boots. Quality control has sent you a memo detailing the length of time before the boots wear out under heavy use. They find that the boots wear out in an average of 208 days, but the exact amount of time varies, following a normal distribution with a standard
Select an existing production organization. Analyze the organization’s current vision, mission, business strategy, operation strategy, supply chain, total quality management, just-in-time philosophy, forecasting method, statistical technique, facility location, work design, project life cycle, and project management. Note: You will need this information in order to complete this and subsequent assignments.
The company that I will be writing about is called Aleve. Aleve is an OTC drug that is made from the company known as Bayer. This medication is known for being a pain reliever that provides relief for a variety of condition. Just like any other company, Aleve has to be able to create a marketing plan. This plan has to be very strategic in order to gain customers and investors. The company must choose a market that they want to target. By doing this they must find out information about their competitors. This information will help them to come up with a marketing strategy that will tell customers why they should
In case of breach of contract liability shall be limited or unlimited depending on the type of activity. There are five types of business organizations in the United States. These forms are sole proprietorship, a partnership, limited liability company, partnership, and limited liability company. Each of these formations business has advantages and disadvantages for the employer. There are different levels attributed to the owners and partners in each of these forms of business organization responsibility. As for the different levels of responsibility that owners and partners can help in selecting the appropriate form
1. Compared with other approaches to business, the marketing concept is distinct in that it
Apple is one of the most valuable brands in the world. The company has strong brand loyalty, impressive revenue growth and superior innovations in technology. There are many aspects of the company that contribute to Apples success. One of the most important aspects is the company’s ethical decision making. Apple has a strong ethical code of conduct that represents the company as being ethical in all decisions being made. Despite Apples positive representation, the company has been faced with many ethical issues. Apple has been involved in many litigations ranging from a domain name dispute and patent infringement, to the use of refurbished products in their repairs. These unethical acts are risky for the company and can affect the company in negative ways. Another aspect that can affect the company is their competitiveness in the technology industry. This industry has many competitors that Apple has to compete with. However, Apple has been overly aggressive in protecting their property rights.
In relation to Apple’s internal environment, the company encourages an innovative culture, involving staff creativity and open-mindedness to novel ideas. In addition, Apple stresses the use of environmentally friendly practices, and protection of employees’ safety and health at work (Schneider, 1995, p. 70). Apple’s external environment poses a challenge to the company in terms of emerging firms in the technology business line, competitors selling substitute products, charging lower prices that entice customers because of their affordability, in comparison to the high quality and pricing of similar items from Apple (Apple, 2012, p.1).
Apple is committed to maintaining the highest standards, for both environmental responsibility and ethical conducts. They follow strict
Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in Apple’s supply chain are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible. Apple’s suppliers (“Suppliers”) are obligated, in all of their activities, to operate in full compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations of the countries in which they operate. This Supplier Code of Conduct (“Code”) goes further, drawing upon internationally recognized standards, in order to advance social and environmental responsibility. Apple requires that Suppliers implement this Code using the management systems described below. The Apple Supplier Code of Conduct is modeled on and contains
In 2005, Apple created a Supplier Code of Conduct in an effort of becoming a socially responsible company. The Code was divided into five categories: Labor and Human Rights, Health and Safety, the Environment, Ethics, and Management Systems. Each of these categories had sublevel sections that specifically dictated Apple’s standings on specific topics. Apple executives introduced this code of conduct to its suppliers with the understanding that these standards needed to be followed for their business relationship to continue. Nevertheless, it was not until the company began facing huge criticism from the world’s press, that they began auditing and assisting their suppliers in the implementation of these standards. Therefore, this section of the paper will first introduce some of the abuses of Apple suppliers in the early 2000s. Then, it will proceed to describing Apple’s actions for remediating these abuses in the following years.
Apple. A multinational corporation and a gleaming example of success in the American dream, coming from humble beginnings in 1976 to becoming one of the world’s highest valued companies at $850bn (The Guardian, 2017). Through becoming a titan within the tech industry Apple has become instantly recognisable worldwide through innovation in computer software and consumer electronics and of course its legendary iPhone. However, the bigger Apple becomes, the more visible it is to the public and at the height of its ethical dilemmas is the 2010 Foxconn scandal. This was where Apple’s biggest supplier Foxconn Technology co ltd had eighteen workers commit suicide and another three killed in a work accident (Huffington Post, 2012) causing a 5% drop in Apple’s stock price after a massive public outcry. Following the scandal Apple began to take the social responsibility seriously and introduced their supplier responsibly guidelines to guard those in their globalised supply chain. However, how effective have these measures been?
Apple is being criticized in China for three main issues, including slave labor, guarantee scandal and underdeveloped infrastructure. However, China is a significant market for Apple. Apple’s market share in China is continuously growing while decreasing in mature countries. Issues related to human rights and labor protection in China are sensitive and of globally mutual concern. If we do not address these issues properly, we will lose Chinese customers as well as suppliers and sub-contractors. This may also seriously impact the reputation and sales of Apple products worldwide.