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Apple: Case Study Name Institution Professor Course Date

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Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3 Company Profile..........................................................................................................................................3 Case Study Summary...................................................................................................................................3 Normative Ethical Theories..........................................................................................................................5 Definition.................................................................................................................................................5 Normative Ethical Theories Roles............................................................................................................5 Ethical Absolutism...................................................................................................................................5 Ethical Relativism.....................................................................................................................................5 Normative Ethical Theories Approaches......................................................................................................6 A Consequentialist Approach.......................................................................................................................6 Utilitarianism...........................................................................................................................................6 Limitations of Consequentialist Approach...............................................................................................7 A Non-consequentialist Approach...............................................................................................................8 Ethics of Duty...........................................................................................................................................8 The Alternative Approaches..................................................................................................................10 Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility....................................................................................10 Corporation Definition...........................................................................................................................10 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)....................................................................................................10 Economic Responsibility........................................................................................................................11 Legal Responsibility...............................................................................................................................13 Philanthropic Responsibility..................................................................................................................14 Ethical Responsibility.............................................................................................................................14 Reflection.................................................................................................................................................. 15 Impact of Ethics on Stakeholders...........................................................................................................15 Benefits of Ethics at Workplace.............................................................................................................16 Conclusion and Recommendations...........................................................................................................18 References.................................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction This report intends to explore the imperatives of ethics in the business spectrum. Well, all actions and decisions that a company takes require some ethical considerations. More than ever, Apple’s success is dependent on its ability to attract the best talents other than just offering top salaries. The system of ethical and moral beliefs informs the values, decisions, and practices of businesses, as well as the individuals in the organization. Moral values are important, especially when no ethical standard or requirement is codified. The standards that Apple observes include environmental protection, the minimum pay, collusion, and insider trading. The standards are setting forth the aspect of business ethics in the business world. The report delves deep into the normative and descriptive theories of ethics. Besides, the report evaluates the concept of corporate social responsibility and its impact.

Company Profile Apple designs, produces, and markets mobile devices, portable music systems, and personal computers. Lim and Shim (2019) assert that Apple sells an array of related services, software, networking accessories, and mobile applications. The company has its major markets across Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and North America. The company’s most popular products include iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, iPhone OS, and so forth. Apple has more than 50,000 employees, both direct and indirect.

Case Study Summary Since its inception, the growth path for Apple has been a bumpy one. The company has been facing appalling ethical issues, which threatens to influence the performance of the company. In 2012, for instance, the tech company was facing ethical queries of child labor, forced overtime, and poor work settings. The company was also facing issues of flouting minimum wage

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requirements. Poor working conditions began to unpeel the injured Apple brand. Up to 2018, moral issues have been coming up each day. The biggest problem is the fact that growing concerns may hurt a leading brand. To prevent further damages, the company has been taking part in CSR and sustainability activities. The goal is to create a different/positive impression about the ethical nature of the brand. It is noteworthy to observe that Apple’s performance and revenues have been growing on a positive trajectory. The revenue levels have been growing by a whopping average of about 15% annually (Lim and Shim, 2019). The growth follows the efforts by the company to address her ethical concerns.

Figure 1, Source: Lim and Shim (2019). Changes in Apple’s Performance between 2006 and 2019

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Just as Khan, Alam, and Alam (2015, p. 961) put, between 2006 and 2016, Apple’s sales grew exceptionally. The company’s revenue, for instance, was about $19.3B in 2006. In 2016, the revenue had grown to approximately $215.6B. Besides, the company’s market capitalization, net income, and cash reserves grew significantly over the same period. The growth speaks volumes about the ethical practices of Apple.

Normative Ethical Theories Definition The normative ethical theories prescribe how some actions or decisions ought to be informed by standard norms/practices. The aim is to justify the acceptance or morality of the decisions/steps that individuals, groups, or a company take.

Normative Ethical Theories Roles Sapp (2016) points out two vital roles of normative and descriptive ethical theories. The two roles include ethical absolutism and ethical relativism.

Ethical Absolutism Ethical absolutism holds that there are norms, values, principles, and beliefs that ought to be followed for its intrinsic value. The standards must be adhered to at any place, time, and situation. The standards cannot be breached regardless of the outcomes expected. Even so, the theory fails to recognize the convictions or moral views held by others that can alleviate community suffering.

Ethical Relativism The theory holds that wrongness or rightness of an action or decision may be determined by the rationality of the surrounding, individual values, or culture. It holds also that two people holding different views may both be right or wrong depending on the context.

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Normative Ethical Theories Approaches A Consequentialist Approach Utilitarianism Clarke and Boersma (2017, p. 111) point out that Apple has faced several ethical issues in the recent past. Workers in the entities that assemble Apple's products are secondary employees of the tech giant. The Cupertino tech giant engage manufacturers like Pegatron and Foxconn to assemble the products on its behalf. Considering that the companies are Asian, the labor standards vary from those of the US. Apple has been in a constant battle with the companies to ensure that its products are assembled ethically. In 2016, Apple conducted about 705 evaluations on its production facilities. In the process, the company found approximately twenty-two gross violations relating to human and labor rights. The infringements included bonded workforce violations, harassments, and alteration of operational hours. Moreover, the company has faced numerous underage employment issues. The gravest problem with juvenile employment entails its risks of triggering ethical matters. Ethical issues are perceived to impact the general image of the tech company. The decision of Apple's assemblers to leverage the underage has proven to affect the entity's corporate image negatively. The descriptive findings of Khan, Alam, and Alam (2015, p. 956) suggest that Apple reported about forty-four violations in 2017 alone. In short, the company faces several ethical issues each year. The use of juvenile employees raises questions about the ethical standards applied by Apple to produce its products. Besides, worker intimidation by the contracted manufacturers and assemblers has triggered other monumental moral concerns. Today, Apple is relying on vendors that understand its social policies and moral standards. Clarke and Boersma (2017, p. 113), in their text, assert the normative ethical theorists' position. Based on

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absolutism role, Apple has been making normative moral/ethical decisions based on impartial rules. The theory holds that some actions by organizations are always justifiable whereas others are not. In this case, the decision to leverage vendors who intuitively understand the company's supply chain standards is progressively eliminating ethical issues. As such, clients, in many ways, will not question the production conditions of Apple's products due to lack of ethical issues. Apple has suffered ethical dilemmas because of the actions of its suppliers and vendors. Still, on the issue of labor violations, the company has experienced major criticisms. In 2017, a Philippine supplier charged its seven hundred workers about $1 million unjustifiably. The supplier charged the workers such colossal amount in the form of fees for their jobs. The violation is an outright source of ethical dilemmas. As part of resolving the dilemma, Apple ordered the Philippine company to reimburse its workers (Johnson, 2017). Just as normative relativism theorists would put, the tech firm's decision to order reimbursement was a justifiable action that would please many. Apple’s steps to resolve the wrongs were part of its efforts to maximize the utility. According relativism perspective, every action has some truth applies to Apple’s decision against Philippine supplier. Based on normative relativism, Apple was morally right to compel the supplier to reimburse its employees (Lim and Shim, 2019).

Limitations of Consequentialist Approach The only challenge with the application of this approach is its unfeasibility. All the points of view involved in the decision-making may not have fair representation. In short, the outcomes would either be pain or pleasure. Besides, the outcomes would depend on the persons executing the decisions in the company. The other limitation is the fact that the outcomes may be measurable, especially in the case of Apple’s brand equity and reputation.

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A Non-consequentialist Approach Ethics of Duty According to the descriptive relativism/ethics of duty, it is expected that a human being will act rationally. Apple must decide the principles that will apply to its decisions. The responsibility of deciding is with the company notwithstanding its consequences. What is important is to comply with moral standards. Gross abuse of vital human rights, use of juvenile workers, and intimidation of employees have yielded negative image for the tech giant. As part of its mitigation measures, the company has leveraged the non-consequentialist approach to solve its ethical dilemmas. The ethics of duty must be applied in case of ethical concerns. The three, most important principles of this approach include: Consistency: For the look of things, Apple has continually ensured consistency during application of its standards. The moral have an impact on the overall feelings of the people around the company. Human Dignity: The tech company is also promoting human dignity, as well as universality. The company understands that all people, including its employees and customers have feelings, emotions, motivations, and so forth. Therefore, it treats others as it would like to get treated. Universality: The universality of Apple's principles intends to provide rational treatment for workers by its vendors and suppliers. The sense of duty is vital, especially now that ethical issues are coming up each day (Kuglin, Crosser, and Haynes, 2017). The quality of products draws many people to buy Apple's iPhones, among other items. Publicity issues started worsening in 2011, especially along the company's supply chain. Initially, ethical issues were less prominent. The tech company is a business that aims to create high-

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quality goods. The objective of producing quality goods and services is to enhance the profitability of the business (Nicholls, 2017). The ethical dimensions of the company tend to affect the overall processes and operations of the business. Often, consumers around the globe have questioned Apple's production processes. The use of juvenile workers has raised loads of concerns among consumers. Consumers have been instrumental, especially in shaping the overall ethical supply chain behaviors (Johnson, 2017). Employees constitute the other set of stakeholders in the organization. Lo Dolce and Ryan (2016) argue that workers play critical roles in the production and distribution of Apple's products. Business dilemmas arise because of unethical approaches used by the business. From the employee perspective, humanity is vital for any business' success. Look, the nonconsequential ethicists champion humanity. The objective is to promote human interactions and respect for human rights. Suppliers often abuse their employees by paying poor wages while overworking them. Of course, manipulation and deception of employees to gain massive profits is unethical. The company ought to promote humanity through universal principles to shape the supply chain. Business behaviors like the use of underage employees are harming Apple's reputation. The society questions a company, mainly when the tech company fails to meet certain conditions. The community is responsible for setting the terms. The terms, in this case, include respect for human rights and moral values. The use of underage employees on the production process jeopardizes the company's reputation. Therefore, Apple must consider the perceptions of the society towards the company. The inputs of the general society, the employees, as well as the consumers, affect the decision-making by the company. The perspectives, for instance, about the

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use of juveniles in production, will influence the decisions of the company positively (Khan, Alam, and Alam, 2015, p. 959).

The Alternative Approaches Apart from the typical normative and descriptive ethical theories, there are other modern/contemporary frameworks. The frameworks look more practical or rational, mainly in Apple’s business spectrum. Some of these frameworks are based on virtue, feminist, moral impulse, and discourse to mention a few.

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Corporation Definition According to Lo Dolce and Ryan (2016), a corporation is any business or entity that meets all the legal requirements set under statutory laws. A corporation is also an entity that is distinct and separate from its owners. A corporation like Apple has three critical traits. One is that it is legal existence (has rights and obligations like any person). The other trait is that it has limited liability to its obligors and creditors. Lastly, a corporation enjoys the continuity of its existence beyond even the lifespan of its owner(s).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) CSR is a business model or approach that informs a company’s sustainability activities. In this case, Microsoft and Apple have the moral responsibility of protecting the interests of its stakeholders, as well as the environment. The company must utilize the Carroll’s Four-Part CSR model of economic, legal, philanthropic, and ethical obligations to meet the requirements and needs of the communities (Bhanji, 2016, p. 424).

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Economic Responsibility Like Apple Inc., Microsoft’s stakeholders have imposed broad scopes on the company. The firm is increasingly focusing on stakeholder issues through its apparent initiatives. Microsoft’s initiatives emphasize respect for vital human rights, business transparency, and environmental sustainability. Customers, employees, communities, investors, and the government comprise the most significant stakeholders of the company. Each of the stated individuals plays critical roles in shaping the performance, as well as the success of Microsoft. In the same way, Apple is focusing on its customers, the community, workers, financiers, and the government. All these factors are instrumental in the performance and existence of Apple. The creation of CSR projects is to promote humanity and transparency. The initiatives are also part of Apple and Microsoft’s marketing strategies. The projects have the power to influence the perception of the company, as well as the performance of its products in the global spectrum (Ghosh, 2018). Just like Apple, Microsoft is the other tech giant with a strong grip across various markets. Over time, the company has been producing operating systems among other software. One will realize that Microsoft engages in several corporate CSR and sustainability projects. According to Cao and Feng (2016), Microsoft’s CSR is informed by its mission and goals. Well, the company’s mission is to serve people or community needs while fulfilling corporate duties. One evident CSR-related undertaking established by the company is Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has won many accolades for its responsible behavior. The tech giant has also ranked among the top CSR reliable firms around the world. Besides, the company has scored the highest in terms of environmental conservation. Both Apple and Microsoft engage in CSR projects with the aims of meeting the expectations of the public. The expectations of the public are growing by the day across various markets.

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A survey by Bhanji (2016, p. 419) suggests that both Apple’s and Microsoft CSR strategies are founded on several global concerns. The concerns range from hardware to software, business-related needs, and issues. In the case of Microsoft, Archie created a CSR model to outline the reci...