Discuss how Apple Computers can bring manufacturing jobs make to the United States - Essay Example

Apple Company In light of the current high unemployment, outsourcing has particularly come in for sharp criticism. Vitriolic attacks have been directed at both the outsourcing companies like Apple and their destination of choice, China. However, to use an American phrase, we seem to be ‘missing the forest for the trees’. This is a delicate problem; furthermore, there is consensus on the causes, but not on the alternatives which shall be discussed below. Thereafter, the most fitting alternative shall be recommended.

The high cost of production in the U.S is most cited as behind this trend. The cost of producing an I-Phone in China is a fraction of what it is in the U.S. This is partly down to cheap labor costs in China vis-a-vis the United States. Huge incentives and subsidies are also directed at technology companies from the Chinese government. The government should similarly offer tax breaks to Apple and other technology companies to ship jobs back to the U.S (Pisano & Wily 8). This will ensure Apple remains competitive even while manufacturing in the U.S. If this happens, jobs shall be created in the shipping industry deriving from the increased movement of parts and raw materials from China to the U.S. The disadvantage in this move is that the government will forego large amounts of revenue from a company that already rakes in a fortune in terms of revenue.

However, as its increasingly becoming apparent, costs are not the sole motivator behind Apples decision to relocate to China. A poorly skilled workforce in the United States is also to blame.The immediate solution to this is upgrading workers skills. This is best done through employee training programs by the government. However, this does not to suggest that American workers are totally deficient of skills in demand; instead, they need to fine-tune their technical or mid-level skills. Majority of Americans are armed with first-rate qualifications, but the technical side of their training can not live up to the demands of a global company of Apple’s size.

Even if, they had the necessary qualifications, the company would not obtain them in the numbers required. This deficiency could be plugged by relaxing visa rules to allow easier entry of Chinese, or other equally skilled workers to take up the extra jobs (Pisano & Wily 9). Even when that is done, a more flexible workforce will be required. Up scaling happens at extremely short notice; thus, it would be difficult to achieve that considering the fact people are only familiar with nine to five jobs, in the U.S. Anything beyond that is labeled overtime and should be rewarded accordingly.

There is no panacea to the challenging task of returning Apple’s manufacturing back to the U.S. What shall best solve this conundrum is an all-of-the-above approach. The first alternative proposed was giving tax breaks, and incentives to companies willing to ship jobs back to the U.S (Pisano & Wily 10). This is an immediate term solution. Once in place this can be a sort of soft landing for this relocating company. However, in the long term much more than just tax breaks shall be necessary to keep the company competitive.

This is where employee training. As already mentioned, a poorly skilled workforce is a crucial influence behind Apple’s move. The U.S government should strive hard to see these recommendations are implemented. Even when implemented, the idea that Apple shall close overnight and move back to the U.S is naive. It shall be financially unsustainable for the company to close down its plants and ship them to the U.S to be re-assembled. This should be a slow process. It should also be directed at the entire industry, not just be narrowly focused on Apple alone since one company will not solve the crippling unemployment in the U.

S (Pisano & Wily 8). Within the intervening time, focus should be directed towards ensuring Apple’s operations still within the country are not shipped out too. The bulk of newly created jobs should also be located in the U.S. Then, we can hope that the rapidly rising production costs in China coupled with the employee training promised by the Obama administration can make Apple fall back in love with the idea of manufacturing in the United States.Work CitedPisano, G. & Wily, S. “Restoring America’s competitiveness.

” Harvard Business Review 7 (2009); 1-13.