Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Essay

orchard apple tree corporation bases its success on creating innovative, high tonus products and services and on demonstrating integrity in every business interaction. concord to orchard apple tree, four main principles contribute to integrity honesty, respect, confidentiality, and compliance. To more thoroughly expatiate these principles, apple has drafted a code of business conduct that applies to all its operations, including operations overseas. orchard apple tree disappointed favorablely responsible investors. apple has come down the stairs fire since around 2006 as details emerged surrounding the workplace surroundings at Apples Chinese suppliers. An article in The smart York Times publicized unsatisfactory worker conditions, which included grueling 24-hour shifts, overcrowded dorms, motion-picture show to toxic chemicals, and horrific explosions. Foxconn Technology Group operates some(prenominal) of the plants in marvel in Chengdu, mainland China. When it comes to customers, Apple is said to be a bold trailblazer that leads the industry into new directions and forces new(prenominal)s to follow.However, when it comes to the management of its supply chain and treatment of workers in the Chinese factories that exercise its products, Apple hides behind the constraints of prevailing industry practices. What is up to now more disconcerting is the fact that these practices be in violation of non only local and national laws, but also of Apples own voluntary self-imposed code of conduct. Most of Apples worker-related problems were foc holdd on Apples manufacturing partner Foxconn and its subsidiaries. Apples China operations eldest caught global attention in June 2006 with a long story in Britains Mail on Sunday.1 This was followed by a series of similar stories in other leading international news media, and has continue to this day.2 Beca drill of Foxconns secrecy, it is well-nigh impossible to develop an sinless assessment of the problems in the factories owned and operated by Foxconn and its various subsidiaries. However, a skeleton description of extreme conditions prevailing in these factories and widely taleed in themedia gave the readers some indication of the enormity of the problems that likely to existed in those plants.Apple has audited many of its suppliers and found violations of its supplier Code of Conduct, but requesting its suppliers improve workings conditions is non as powerful as changing suppliers to ones with more humane conditions. dissolve of the problem is that Apple has no legal liability for what happens in Chinese factories owned by separate manufacturers. Environmental organization Greenpeace had frequently campaigned against Apple, requesting excretory product of non-recyclable hardw ar components, the removal of toxins from iPhone hardware, and a comprehensive take-back plan to prevent Apple products from ending up as waste. Greenpeace also began a protest in 2003 against Apples us e of toxic PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants, or BFRs, in Apples products. Apple eliminated these chemicals in 2008, becoming the first laptop maker to do so (Corporate Responsibility Spotlight Apple, family line 14, 2012.) Workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, concord to employees inside Chinas plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves.Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious some sentences deadly safety problems. Under-age workers have helped build Apples products, and the orders suppliers have improperly disposed of insecure waste and falsified records, correspond to party reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors. The suppliers exhibit disregard for workers health. In 2010, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after the workers were said to have been ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. In 2009 two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that process of monition (Duhigg, Charles and Barboza, David. In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad, (The NewYork Times) January 25, 2010.) The publications outlining the ethics and social righteousness violations of Apple caused more consumers to actually start to wonder where and how Apple products are manufactured. Consumers have centralizeed on Apples queer products rather than how they are produced.The New York Times story on iPad working conditions, for example, generated 1,770 reader comments. Many, if not most, blasted Appleor the overall placement of cheap labor. And an online petition prompted by the This American Life piece that called for Apple to protect Chinese workers had garnered roughly 166,000 signaturesand counting. I determined that Apples customers would be willing to pay more for its products if Apple had to increase cheat prices in order to provide better wages and benefits for suppliers workers. Apple seems to make people crazy, described as a cult because it has such a vociferous following. The Secrecy Strategy (Moltz, John., Why Apple Drives People Crazy. Macworld. Feb2013, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p100-100. 1p). Stock-market and financial analysts are known to al looks have had a hard time understanding Apple because Apple does not sell commodity products or chase market share at the personify of everything else. Its modus operandi is Enter a market, stake out the high end, and scoop up all the profit. As copycats such as Samsung flood the low end, Apple continued to hold the high end by evolving and differentiating products, while aspect for new markets.One key approach used is to never cable punches that way, no would know which market would be re do next. Hence Apples famous veil of secrecy, which further frustrated analysts. The bottom line was that the speak to of Apples products and its business strategies were said to be inscrutable, which made the company a Rorschach test. People saw what they wanted to see, and the idea that Apples fortunes are plummeting is more appealing to many than the idea that it energy continue to ride high. The appeal of Apples products and its business strategies are believed to be both inscrutable. Apple joined the FLA in 2012 following tearing public attention over allegations of widespread problems at Foxconn, Chinas largest private employer. The FLA said both Apple and Foxconn have agreed to on-going assessments by FLA in order to ensure that labor practices meet FLA standards and hang on in compliance for the long term.Current and former Apple executives, moreover, joint the company had made significant strides in improving factories in new-fangled years. Apple has a supplier code of condu ct that details standards on labor issues, safety protections and other topics. The company has mounted a sprightly auditing campaign, and when abuses are discovered, Apple says, corrections are demanded. And Apples yearbook supplier responsibility reports, in many cases, are the first to report abuses. This month, for the first time, the company released a list identifying many of its suppliers. Apple has continued to be aggressive incalling out suppliers who dont meet up to its code of conduct. In January, Apple said it had open fire Pingzhou Electronics after it was found to be hiring underage workers. Apples Supplier Code of Conduct sets the minimum age for workers at 15. (Apples bray Practices In China Scrutinized After Foxconn, Pegatron Reviews. Forbes.com. 12/12/2013, p2-2. 1p. 1 Chart).What made Steve different from other marketers, is that he understood that his job as a marketer was not to focus on making money or sales, and, unlike other marketers, Steves marketing s kills was seem in the way he presented his products Here are some of the quotes that reflect Steves focus in business If it could save a persons life, could you stupefy a way to save ten seconds off the boot time? Youve got to start with the customer experience and work back towardnot the other way around. Being the richest man in the cemetery doesnt discipline to me. Going to bed at night saying that they had done something marvelous is what mattered to Steve. Steve made the marketing process simple if he gave people what they want, meliorate them on why they needed it, showed them how it will improve their lives, and why no other competitors products could compete with the convenience and ease of use of yours, customers would be willing to spend.ReferencesApples Labor Practices In China scrutinized after Foxconn, pegatron reviews. Forbes.com. 12/12/2013, p2-2. 1p. 1 Chart. Apples trade Strategy Sell On Value, Not Price. Retrieved from http//www.chrisnosal.com/apples-marketin g-strategy-sell-products-on-value-not-price/ (Duhigg, Charles and Barboza, David.( January 25, 2010). In China, human be are built into an iPad, (The NewYork Times). Frauenheim, Ed. February 6, 2012. Bad Apple Could the era of exploitation outsourcing be near its end? Retrieved from http//www.workforce.com/blogs/2-work-in-progress/post/bad-apple-could-the-era-of-exploitation-outsourcing-be-near-its-end) Kannel, Charlie, The Motley Fool (September 14, 2012) Corporate responsibility spotlight Apple. (Daily Finance). Ira Kalb, Marshall School of Business, USC . (September 13, 2013) Apples chinchy iPhone might not be that affordable, but it does protect the brand (Business Insider). Retrieved from