About The Company
Apple is a well-known company I the field of consumer electronics, computer software and other technology related products. The company has its headquarters in California. The company sells and designs various products, including personal computers, laptops, smart watches, iPads, iPods, smartphones and other devices like portable media players. The company is known for its quality and commitment to the latest technology. The company also sells software and online services to its consumers. The company was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company initially produced personal computers. In 1977, the company was known as Apple Computer Inc. The sales of personal computers designed by the company spurred up in those times. The company was able to earn huge revenues due to rising demand and sales. Later, the company started hiring software designers to design softwares for the company. The company sells its products worldwide. Major segments include China, Japan, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. The company has a huge customer base located across the globe. The company sells its products to customers through retailers. The company has an online store, too. The company also owns some direct sales outlets. The company’s products are sold around the world and are mainly delivered by third-party wholesalers. The company’s customer base includes general consumers, businesses, educational institutes, enterprises, and the government.
Ethics
Apple is highly committed to ethical standards and social responsibility. The company makes sure that its employees work with honesty and commitment. They avoid conflicts and internal competition. The employees are required to show full dedication without indulging themselves in organizational politics. The company makes sure that all employees provide excellent services to clients. Apple also makes sure that all its partners follow ethical guidelines no matter where they are located. The company makes sure that it does not harm the society in which it operates.
Culture
The culture of Apple revolves around top-notch excellence, creativity, secrecy, innovation and moderate combativeness. The culture of the company is evident in the ambience, the way employees work and behave, and the way the company chooses and executes its strategies.
Top-notch excellence: The company makes sure that it hires the best candidates from the market who fit with the company’s organizational culture and can deliver high-quality standards as demanded by the company.
Creativity: Apple tries its best to hire employees who are creative and can demonstrate creativity through their work. The company encourages new ideas from its employees.
Innovation: Apple is known for its innovation and for creative ideas. The company always tries to bring new technology to the market. Employees are trained in a way that they bring innovative ideas to work.
Secrecy: When employees are hired, they sign a secrecy agreement. In the agreement, all employees agree to keep the information of the company secure and free from theft. The company has taken all possible measures to protect its important information and data and to ensure full secrecy and confidentiality.
Moderate combativeness: Steve Jobs had a distinctive leadership style that included demanding and challenging employees. The reference to a “new CEO” describes the historical transition to Tim Cook, who became Apple’s chief executive in 2011 and remains CEO as of August 4, 2026. Apple has announced that John Ternus will become CEO on September 1, 2026, while Cook will become executive chairman. Leadership-style comparisons should therefore be tied to the relevant period rather than described as a recent change.
Ethical Issues Faced By The Apple:
Apple is a well-known company whose ethical responsibilities extend beyond its own offices to the independent suppliers that manufacture many of its products. The original paragraph incorrectly describes Chinese supplier factories as being owned by Apple and presents child labor as an unchecked current practice. Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct prohibits child labor and other serious violations, and its current supply-chain program reports facility assessments, worker-rights training, remediation and restrictions on suppliers when core violations are found. These controls do not eliminate the need for continued independent scrutiny, but the issue should be described as supplier oversight rather than direct ownership of the factories.
The new CEO took the matter seriously. He hired a third party to investigate the issue and to present complete details about the matter. The CEO made sure that factory conditions improved and that its workers benefited from the best environment, pay scale, and benefits. The CEO publicly published the fair labour report about conditions at a Chinese factory that showed improved working conditions. The new CEO, Cook, responded to the issue quickly and announced publicly that working conditions at Chinese factories had been improved (Hawthorne, 2012).
Stakeholders that were impacted by charges included the company’s consumers, the company itself, and its partners. Since the company is known to be ethically responsible, such charges may affect the trust among consumers and partners and the company’s reputation.
Another ethical issue that the company faces is about quality. Since the company is known to deliver excellence and quality, quality issues can alienate consumers and can greatly impact the repute of the company regarding its commitment to quality and innovation. Consumers complained about reception problems they faced with the company’s new products. Consumers also believed that the company was intentionally slowing down the performance of older models when new models arrived on the market. The CEO of the company responded to both of these issues. The company has taken serious steps to deal with reception problems so that such problems do not occur again. The company also told its customers to replace the batteries of older models to optimize their performances (RSM, 2016)
Conclusion:
After completing the case study, I believe the company should take care of ethical issues before its stakeholders are impacted. Companies that violate ethical issues suffer from lawsuits, bad repute, low revenues and loss of customers.
References
Hawthorne, F., 2012. Apple’s Appalling Ethics. [Online]
Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/fran-hawthorne/apples-appalling-ethics_b_1651264.html
[Accessed 9 April 2018].
RSM, 2016. What are the ethical issues of Apple company and future of the Apple company?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.winstudent.com/what-are-the-ethical-issues-of-apple-company-and-future-of-the-apple-company/
[Accessed 9 April 2018].
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