Foxconn & Apple“to make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance

humankind” (at whatever cost)

Maria Salemi

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Foxconn and AppleMaria Salemi

When Apple made it their mission to create innovative products that will take humankind into the future, they made sure it was done fast, cheap and at excellent quality. However, what was not taken into consideration was what happened behind the scenes in their labour factories.

Foxconn is known to be the largest outsourcing business in the world. They produce many leading electronic companies products such as Apple’s competitor Samsung, Nintendo, Nokia and much more, making up an estimated 40% of the word’s consumer electronics. Foxconn employs around 230, 000 workers for their assembly line, each line making 72, 000 iPhone 4’s per day. For electronic giants Apple, partnering with Foxconn is viewed as a massive advantage as workers will produce their products fast, on time and for a low cost. However, working with a company such as Foxconn means that the reputation of Apple also lies in their hands. Thus, Apple to need to make sure their

partners demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Unfortunately for Apple, Foxconn have not been successful in demonstrating a sense of Corporate Social Responsibility. In 2011, Apple was accused of using Chinese suppliers whilst being fully aware these suppliers are known to cause pollution in Chinese waterways. With further investigation, Foxconn was found to breach numerous Chinese protection, environmental and labour laws. In 2009, Foxconn had 12 employees jump off from building in the space of six months. It was found that over 72% of employees were relying on overtime wages to make their living and were completing over 100 hours of the maximum legal amount. Apple then took upon themselves to conduct their own investigation. Apple found that third-party labour agencies were providing students under the age of 16 with fake IDs in order to work for labour factories such as Foxconn. As this is an illegal practice, workers were threatened retaliation against those

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were threatened retaliation against those that revealed their age to officials. Apple then reported on these schools and also launched for suicide prevention specialists.

In 2012, Apple had an influx in iPhone 5 orders due to its debut, meaning international workers had to invest more hours in order to meet strict deadlines. With added pressure on an already stressful task, it caused workers to riot against security guards and take violent actions towards shop windows, cars and police officers. Apple’s high demands for their iPhone 5 also lead to a spike at Foxconn in October that year including 3-4,000 workers. Apple’s strict demand in product quality caused Foxconn workers to produce Apple products that did not meet Apple standards. Apple then returned 5 million iPhones to Foxconn the following year costing Foxconn up to 1.6 billion dollars in replacement handsets.

With Foxconn manufacturing for Apple for over a decade, there is no way this partnership will end. In fact, Apple is working on strengthening their partnership with Foxconn, by beginning to construct two new research and development centres this year.working on strengthening their partnership with Foxconn, by beginning to construct two new research and development centers this year.

References: Everything Business Studies Case Study. (2014). Tablo.io. Retrieved 11 October 2017, from https://tablo.io/christanphotography/everything-business-studiesFoxconn suffers unrest at iPhone factory. (2017). Financial Times. Retrieved 11 October 2017, from https://www.ft.com/content/116dc2e8-105a-11e2-a5f7-00144feabdc0The Other Side of Apple. (2011) (pp. 15,16). Retrieved from https://business-humanrights.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/it_report_phase_iv-the_other_side_of_apple-final.

pdfUpdate: 3000 to 4000 workers strike at Foxconn’s China factory. (2012). Chinalaborwatch.org. Retrieved 11 October 2017, from http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/newscast/187Worstall, T. (2013). The High Cost To Foxconn Of Returned Apple iPhones. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/04/22/the-high-cost-to-foxconn-of-returned-apple-iphones/#508999ff5e36

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