Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies - Assignment Example

Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Introduction Apple incorporation is a multinational corporation of America headquartered in California and regarded as the second-largest information technology corporation in the world. The key business of Apple Inc. is to provide diverse range of electronic products with high information technology. The implementation of innovative products and marketing strategy by Apple has blazed the line for the electronic products. The Apple brand for millions of consumers embodies innovation, quality and prestige. The success stems of Apple Corporation are believed by many people as combination of a corporate philosophy of innovation and enthusiasm, impeccable leadership abilities of Steve Jobs and high-tech products. The combination of these qualities has been the pivotal reason behind the success story of Apple Inc. which revolutionized the retail industries and the technology. Apple Inc. is dedicated towards the main standards of ethical conduct, environment and social responsibilities. The prime purpose of the paper is to provide vivid information about the ethical and social responsibility, current position and strategies of the Apple Corporation. Social responsibilities of Apple According to David Kurtz, “social responsibility is defined as the management values that comprises of contributing resources to the developing in nonprofit programs, community and maintaining the natural environment for the benefit of the general community”. Apple Inc. is a multinational corporation of America founded in 1976. Apple develops, designs, sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers and online services. Apple strives to be committed towards making an extraordinary technology and be socially and ethically responsible (Lencioni, 2012). According to the management of Apple Corporation, “social responsibility is defined as the essential in the manner of doing business in the organization”. In case of suppliers, it has been stated on the Progress Report of Global Suppliers Responsibility by Apple as providing safe working surroundings. Some of the social responsibility program initiated by Apple Inc. in the year 2010 includes increase in the number of facilities that are audited, use of probable conflict minerals are mapped, prevention of hiring underage workers, introduction of educated facilities that can help to manage third-party recruiters, protection of worker from other countries by dedicated additional resources and expansion in the training initiative. In case of training expansion, 300,000 workers are trained on their protections and right under the code of Apple and local law. In recent years, it has been found that Apple Inc. has supported the initiatives of global education by providing students and educators with modern innovative technology. For all type of learning, Apple Inc. Provided targeted technology. During the time of natural disasters, it has become pivotal for other organization to provide their help for the benefit of society. Apple Inc. is determined to help at the time of natural disasters by combining with Red Cross. Several iTunes applications have been provided by the organization to streamline the process and make donation much easier. Ethical responsibilities of Apple The business conduct policy of Apple is based on creation of high-quality products and innovative products and conduct business honestly and ethically. One of the prime visions of Apple Inc. is to create an ethical workplace where workers are treated with utmost respect and dignity. Antidiscrimination, prevention of human trafficking, Anti-harassment, protection of juvenile workers and prevention of underage labor are some of the labor and human rights initiated by Apple Inc. Moreover, supplier shall ensure and commit to create a workplace which is free of discrimination, abuse and harassment. Apple is viewed as one of the most influential companies that pride being environmentally safe organization. The facilities of United Sates are eco-friendly and are mostly driven by renewable energy. The current position of Apple measures on being socially and ethically responsible by application of less toxic materials on the creation of products. Environmentally safe materials are used by Apple to follow the norms and regulation of government and position them on being socially and ethically responsible company. The impact of publication of social and legal responsibilities violations on reputation of Apple One of the major suppliers of Apple Inc. is the Pegatron Group. According to China Labor Watch, Taiwanese company has violated social responsibility code of Apple and Chinese labor laws. The factories of Pegatron Group are located in Suzhou and Shanghai. Investigation done by China Labor Watch found out that this Taiwanese company has 50 ethical violations, 36 legal violations and 86 labor rights violations. According to executive director of China Labor Watch, Li Qiang “looking in case of business perspective, it is Apple that needs to take responsibility to nullify the issue”. Moreover, it has also been stated that Apple Inc. should address the issue of violation so responsibilities among its suppliers and manufacturers. Corrective actions must be taken in order to deal with the issues of violation of code of conduct. It can create adverse impact on the brand image of Apple Inc.Li Qiang also stated that the bar of labor standards must be enhanced to create an effective and ethical workplace for manufacturing of quality and innovative products. Another worst offender of violation of supplier code of conduct of Apple is Foxconn. The New York Times provided a closer image about the horrible working condition of Foxconn in Chengdu, China. It has been found out that many of the workers have to work over 60 hours per week. This resembles the fact that the immense amount of overtime that workers have to endure to create an adverse working conditions (Midler, 2010). The consistence violation of legal and social responsibilities has created adverse impact on the reputation of Apple Inc. Methods that can be implemented by Apple to ensure standard benefits and suppliers follow to wage Benefit management Benefit management method can be implemented by Apple Inc. to ensure standard in the business. This management process can help to ensure to deliver effective projects for the betterment of the organization. This method can improve the quality of production and enable to avoid potential obstacles that can hurt the success of the project (Augen, 2008). Some of the benefits of project designed to that can benefit to reduce the amount of time taken to process an order are increased sales, improved customer service, reduction of frustration at the time of sales and assist to enhance standard of the quality. Some of the basic phases of benefits management method are defining the benefits, developing benefits plan, monitoring the benefits, completion of the project. Communication on wage calculation Communication on wage calculation method can be implemented by Apple Inc. to ensure that supplier communicate effectively to all workers (Smith, 2004). The way workers are communicated in which it is written or talked in a language that can be understood by workers. This method can help suppliers to understand the deductions, wages, and benefits. A clear statement can be written to communicate with workers about the amount of overtime hour’s workers, account on each benefit payment and appropriate rate of pay of holiday hours and regular hours. Customer’s willingness to pay more for Apple products for benefits of suppliers The decision of Apple Inc. to increase the price of the products to provide better benefits and wages to the workers of the supplier would not be appreciated by the customers. Moreover, this step can diminish the number of customers (Collins & Shemko, 2009). The extraordinary growth of Apple Inc. from the year 2001 is mainly because of the constant launch of series of innovative products. The prime necessity of customer is to buy product, which is technologically advanced and innovative. The rise of price for internal reasons will not be cherished and appreciated by customers. The mission statement of Apple Inc. is to commit towards providing best possible computing experience to creative professionals student, consumers and educators around the world. Cost leadership strategy can be implemented by Apple to make constant effort to focus on lowering the cost of production. The low cost operation can benefit organization to maintain sense of stability in the workplace. Moreover, the profit achieved can be used to provide wages to the workers. Current marketing strategy of Apple The current market situation of Apple Inc. is to target specific market globally and overtake the market with the help of innovative and quality products. The core competence of Apple is to deliver exceptional experience for customers by excellent user interfaces. Four pillars of marketing strategy of Apple incudes offering lesser number of products, focusing on the high end products, higher priority towards profits and creating a halo effect. Premium pricing strategy is one of the strategies implemented by Apple to keep the price of the service or product higher with superb quality. Recommendation Product differentiation and service differentiation are the two actions that can improve competitive advantage of Apple in the marketplace. Product differentiation is offering varied of products to the customer. This action can be implemented by following the vision and mission of Apple. According to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, the differentiation in the market can be implemented by organization by manipulating many characteristics such as design, style, features, performances, reparability, reliability and durability (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011). Apple Inc. maintained their detailed standard of the products by providing innovative and quality products. Competitive marketing strategy should be implemented by Apple to sustain in the world of globalization and emergence of new products. It is without any doubt that the success of Apple is based on quality and innovative products. The focus on product differentiation for launch of new products on different market segment can make Apple Inc. broader market share. Service differentiation can help to maintain its competitive advantage in the market. 24-hour online help support can help customers to talk to ask for assistance. This can enhance the customer loyalty and eventually increase brand image. Many service centers should be created around the world to technical support service to the customers. Excellent service can be perceived by consumers as a reliable brand. Conclusion This can be concluded that current ethical and social responsibilities are being effectively followed by Apple to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Apple Inc. is viewed as the responsible organization that not only addresses the issue of specific violation of problems but also targets to improve the management system of the organization which is essential to nullify the problems. The publication of social and ethical responsibilities violation can create adverse effect on the image of a company. The working condition of Foxconn in China violated the code of conduct which affected the wages of the workers. The increase in price of products for providing better wages to the works can act as a disadvantage. Effective communication of wage calculation and benefit management can ensure benefits for suppliers. The application of product and service differentiation can increase competitive gain of Apple Inc. References Augen, J. (2008). The Volatility Edge in Options Trading. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Collins, K., & Shemko, J. (2009). Exploring Business. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2011). Principles of Marketing. New Jersey: Pearson. Lencioni, P. (2012). The five dysfunctions of a team. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Midler, P. (2010). Poorly made in China. New York: Springer. Smith, D. R. (2005). Strategic Planning for Public Relations. New York: Springer. Read More