Cross-cultural perspectives on global organizations and cultural issues

Cross-Cultural Perspectives - Apple's Sweatshop Plants in China

The world that the Apple technology company enjoys "…could not be rosier and its future shiner," according to researcher Ajinkya Khedekar, writing in the Carnegie Council's publication -- Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The author goes on to assert that Apple has "reached the pinnacle of success in 15 short years" and its market capitalization ($500 billion) makes it one of the most "valuable and highly profitable companies in the world" (Khedekar, 2012, p. 1). But that rosy financial and technological future has been clouded somewhat by the fact that its "value culture" (what it charges for its products) is different than its "cost culture" (the working conditions and wages it pays are less than appropriate for a company that is profiting so mightily). This paper delves into the cultural issues that result from the poor treatment of Chinese workers vis-a-vis the manufacturing of Apple products (iPhone and iPod) in China.

What are Apple's Continuing Cross-Cultural Ethical Problems in China?

Apple contracts with Foxconn (the "largest and most technically sophisticated manufacturing operation for consumer electronic products") in China. But due to the fact that Apple employees at Foxconn are "…working in an extremely high stress environment," suffering from "…deplorable living conditions," being paid "below-standard wages" and being subjected to "health hazards associated with the use of toxic chemicals and inadequate air filtration systems," Apple is actually producing products in sweatshop conditions (Khedekar p, 2-3). The violation of These are not new problems for Apple's manufacturing plants in China. The mistreatment of Apple's Chinese workers has been publicized in many media outlets over the years. Beginning in 2006, when the London Daily Mail wrote an investigative piece about the terrible conditions in Apple's China factories, media attention has focused on the Foxconn plants' horrifyingly inhumane conditions. But as Khedekar notes on page 2 of his article, each time a new investigative piece is published detailing the lack of ethical behavior on the part of Apple's contactors in China, the company promises "…corrective action" in terms of human resource management, and the process (often stealthily conducted) of reform "…fades in direct proportion to a decline in media attention" (Khedekar, p. 3).

An article in The New York Times (Duhigg, et al., 2012) quotes a "former Apple executive" who said the company has "…known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they're still going on" (Duhigg, p. 3). Moreover, Apple's suppler code of ethics asserts that "…employees are not supposed to work more than 60 hours a week"; however, research (interviews with workers who are not authorized to talk to auditors but who cooperate with investigations anonymously) shows that some workers put in 12 hours a day six days per week (Duhigg, p. 5). Moreover, when an employee shows up to work late, he or she is "sometimes required to write confession letters and copy quotations" (Duhigg, p. 5).

Apple's Code of Conduct and Ethical Flaws in China

Apple's code of conduct for suppliers was written in 2005, and it contains demands "…that working conditions in Apple's supply chain are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible" (Duhigg, p. 6). But Apple's own audits in 2007 showed that Foxconn had hired "15-year-olds" and had "falsified records" to hide violations (Duhigg, p. 6).

Meanwhile Apple joined the Fair Labor Association (FLA) in 2011; the FLA is a group that monitors factories in the supply chains of affiliated / international companies. The FLA staff conducted 3,000 hours of investigations into conditions in three of Apple's Chinese factories, and surveyed "more than 35,000" Foxconn workers over a 12-month period (Hyatt, 2012). The results of those probes included these findings: a) all three factories exceeded the FLA standard of 60-hour work weeks; b) 64% of employees said "…compensation does not meet their basic needs"; c) overtime pay is determined in "30-minute increments"; which means that if a person put in 29 minutes of overtime he or she would receive nothing) (Hyatt, p. 1-2).

The publication that originally blew the whistle on Apple and Foxconn, London's Daily Mail, published an article six years after their original investigative piece. Journalist Simon Walters asserted that "Apple has failed to tackle the scandalous working conditions… in China" (Walters, 2012). "Workers are continuing to die and sustain injuries in horrific accidents" because they are "forced" to work many hours "for slave wages in sweatshop conditions" (Walters, p. 1).

Walters references verifiable sources that assert "More than 100 workers have been injured by toxic chemical exposures," and that some workers "…say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk" (p. 3). The Daily Mail article reports that "at least" nineteen Foxconn workers have attempted suicide due to the stress experienced while producing iPods and iPhones in China.