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Introduction
technological, ecological, and legal structures with competing stakeholders as well as power
claims. Such organizations are embedded in and interact continuously with dynamic local,
national, and international environments. These demand that businesses must portray superior
business ethics and social responsibility to all relevant stakeholders. With such expectations,
business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have gradually become essential and
inherent aspects for all companies seeking to thrive in the highly competitive contemporary
business world (Falck & Heblich, 2007). Companies are now expected to show unlimited
concern for the interests of their stakeholders as well as other areas such as environmental
conservation, ethical governance, and social aspects among others. The primary aim of this paper
is to evaluate Apple, Inc.’s ethical practices and social responsibility programs with the goal of
Unquestionably, Apple, Inc. is among the most outstanding, respected, and lucrative
firms in the world. Rising from a crumbling rubble in 1997, Apple, Inc. has speedily developed
to apex success within a short period of 15 years. The center of its extraordinary success lies in
its ability to make truly innovative products with an immense customer appeal. Additionally,
Apple’s success is partly because of its capacity to satisfy its stakeholders and corporate social
responsibility (CSR). Today, Apple, Inc. acknowledges that business ethics and social
responsibility are fundamental to its ways of doing business. Apple Inc.’s stakeholders
significantly affect the business in sales revenue and customer perception. Bearing in mind its
constantly high value of its brand, Apple, Inc. excellently accounts for its stakeholders in all
strategies and policies it articulates and implements. Apple has a stable and all-inclusive method
of addressing the wellbeing of stakeholder groups important to the business. These stakeholder
Apple, Inc. has various major stakeholder groups. These are customers, employees,
investors, suppliers and distributors, and the local communities. Firstly are the consumers, who
top the priority list. Their primary interests are effective and efficient products that are
reasonably priced. However, Apple’s products are higher priced when compared to other
consumer electronic products. The second stakeholder group comprises the employees at Apple,
Inc. facilities. Their central interests are proper compensation and career development. The third
stakeholder group consists of the investors. These are interested in maximizing the returns on
their investments. Apple, Inc. addresses this stakeholder group through excellent financial
performance, high liquidity, and minimal debts. The fourth stakeholder group consists of
suppliers and distributors, who are primarily connected to the company’s supply chain. Although
these are indirect stakeholders, they significantly determine Apple, Inc. corporate social
responsibilities. They are mainly concerned with proper compensation packages and job security.
The final stakeholder group comprises the community. Local communities that live close
to Apple, Inc. facilities are concerned with environmental and social impacts. Apple, Inc. is
Apple, Inc. has environmental programs meant to address customer’s demands for business
sustainability. Apple, Inc. sponsors development programs that impact the local communities
socially.
Apple, Inc. Ethics and Social Responsibility in Addressing Stakeholders’ Interests
How ethical and socially responsible Apple, Inc. is can be gauged from the way it treats
and commits to the welfares of its customers, investors, employees, suppliers, and local
communities. When it comes to this, Apple, Inc. can be viewed from two different perspectives,
To start with is the positive perspective, which focuses on Apple, Inc.’s ethics and social
responsibility in addressing the interests of its customers and investors. Ideally, Apple, Inc. puts
its best possible efforts in addressing the interests of its customers and investors. When it comes
to customers, Apple, Inc. strives to create truly innovative products with vast customer appeal
(Sethi, 2012). Apple, Inc. flouts the conventional wisdom in the consumer electronics industry,
which emphasizes on low commodity prices, me too products, and gradually shortened product
life. Rather, Apple, Inc. chooses constant and discrete product innovation, which leads to fanatic
loyalty and high profitability (Sethi, 2012). When it comes to investors, Apple, Inc. strives to
maintain an excellent financial performance. For instance, Apple, Inc. has become among the
most profitable companies in the world. Apple, Inc. maintains high profitability margins and has
a strong financial position, which involves high liquidity through massive amounts of cash. The
In the contrast is the negative perspective in which reports indicate that Apple, Inc.
mistreats its employees and suppliers, and is less concerned with interests of the community.
Even though Apple, Inc. is committed to ensuring that the working conditions of all its
employees and suppliers are safe and that workers and local communities are treated with respect
and dignity, Apple, Inc. does not fulfill these promises (Friends of Nature, 2011). It has not
succeeded in ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility on its workers in making and
distributing its high-tech products. After a series of careful investigations by various
investigators, it has emerged that Apple, Inc. has two contrasting sides when its commitment and
actual performance are compared. For instance, cases of workplace injuries and disabilities are
common among employees. Other employees and suppliers continue to be mistreated through
breaches in occupational and workplace laws. Local communities’ environments have been
polluted to extents that people’s health and wellbeing are at stake (Friends of Nature, 2011).
Departing from these premises, Apple, Inc. can be said to have broken its promises in three
aspects of being socially responsible to the interests of its employees, suppliers, and the local
environmental protection, occupational health, and right labor laws (Friends of Nature, 2011).
Under these circumstances, the extravagant promises that Apple, Inc. makes can be classified as
empty promises. In precise terms, Apple, Inc. lags behind the constraints of prevalent industry
practices by holding firm to procedures that violate not only local and national laws, but also its
Conclusion
The paper discussed the ethical and social responsibility of Apple, Inc., a consumer
electronics company. Over the last couple of years, Apple, Inc. has grown to pinnacle success
thanks to its ability to create truly innovative products and satisfy its stakeholders and corporate
social responsibility (CSR). It notes that Apple, Inc. has five stakeholder groups. These are
consumers, investors, employees, suppliers and distributors, and the local communities.
Investigations into how Apple, Inc. responds to the interests of each stakeholder group shows
that there is a huge disparity, and Apple, Inc. can’t be said to be truly ethically and socially
responsible as its increasingly valuable brand name suggests. While Apple, Inc. seems to be too
concerned with the interests of its customers and investors, Apple, Inc. has a little score in ethical
and social responsibility in addressing the interests of its employees, suppliers and distributors,
and the local communities. Its commitments and promises are empty as evident through direct
breaches of environmental protection, occupational health, and right labor laws. Even though
Apple, Inc. is a renowned, valuable, and profitable company, it maintains two contrasting sides
when its commitments and actual performance in ethical and social responsibility are compared.
Therefore, this paper concludes that Apple, Inc. is not ethically and socially responsible in