Public Relations - Apple during Foxconn Suicide Scandal - Case Study Example

Public Relations - Apple during Foxconn Suicide Scandal: The Communication cycle The FOXCONN suicide scandal unearthed the unethical labor practices that Foxconn, a manufacturing partner of Apple in China engages in. The incident that took place on the July 16, 2009, involved the suicide by a Foxconn factory worker, Sun Danyong. The worker was mistreated by his superiors when he misplaced the iPhone’s fouth generation prototype model. The incident also involved Foxconn employees searching Danyon’s house contrary contrary to the American Laws and the Chinese laws. The working conditions and secrecy policy at the Foxconn was brought under heavy criticism. Through Public Relations strategies, Apple was able to state clearly their remorse to the media. The Apple Inc. also indicated that their corporate culture involves that their suppliers and partners are held liable for any ommissions and arrors. The first mission of Apple Company was to protect the environment and the safe of their employees in the areas they operate. They are also committed to ensure that the future generations live in a healthy and safe environment. The vision of the apple company is to bring the best personal experience to educators, students and other consumers through innovation of software and other products. The other mission statement is that it designs the best computers and other professional software and this will help in defining the future of the mobile media. On the other hand, the other vision of the company is to create beautiful, sleek and easy to use technology (Lüsted, 2012). Organizations, which intend to success, have established effective leadership, which is able to provide the direction and develop their skills so that they can handle different task within the organization. Apple has ensured that it has the engineers have the knowledge and skills required to provide value to the customers. These skills are improved through adequate training and development programs, which equip them with the necessary skills required to be creative and innovative (Lüsted, 2012). They have different systems one of them is iPhone which combines mobile phones and internet communications. Content from users is sync by iPhone as well as email accounts. On the other hand, iPad they have iPad, which serves many purposes for example reading, sending email, viewing photos and playing games. It is based on company multitouchy technology hence gives the customers a chance to connect in a more interactive way. There are many iPod accessories in different online accessories around the world.mac is another system of apple .this include desktops and other portable computers. The Mac desktop has OSX operating system, which helps in the website creation. There are also ipods, which include iPod classic, iPod shuffle and iPod nano. Through this, the customer can download and access other digital applications easily. The iPod classic is a hard portable digital player. They also have the iTunes, which supports the purchase and is available for windows based computers (Lüsted 2012). What people do within the organization is also very important in providing value to the customers. Operations have to be intertwined with strategic focus, which helps in giving directions. Effective operations need to ensure that customers are able to get what they want from the organization at the right time, the right price and the right quality. In order to ensure that operations are effective, Apple has been collaborating with different organizations such as network operators. For instance, it has entered into a strategic partnership with AT&T, which allows the partner to sell iPhone applications and music. The company also operates in an adequate infrastructure, which has increased mobile internet services (OGrady 2009). There has been the best delivery of IT management, which ensures an informed IT department is maintained. Apple computer outsourced 70 percent of its manufacturing cost because it was not best at making monitors and chips. Through co, sourcing the company was able to increase coverage without increasing overheads. Apple Company invests heavily in helping the workers to gain new skills. Apple acts as a team they like to control all aspects of the product through teamwork. On the other hand, the apple employees are sometimes pushed to the limit. Apple is looking forward to collaborating with global foundries. This is one of the semiconductor operators. This will enable apple to build various chips for iPhones, iPads and iPods. There are big companies, which have helped apple in its value chain for example Verizon organization. Most of the apples products for example iPods, iPod minis and iphone are produced in china. This is because the manufacturing cost of these products is very low in china. It is clear that due to dependency on the outsourcing the company is bound to loss control. It has benefited in terms of outsourcing application development. In the role-playing training and development strategy, the senior most management plays the role of customers and therefore enlightens the employees on how to effectively interact with the customers and clients in the global markets. This is important because requires satisfaction of the services that are provided by the business ventures (OGrady, 2009). The employment opportunities in Apple Company are advertised through the internet where qualified candidates are called upon to apply. There are targeting the right candidates who are experienced in the related fields they offer. They initiate their marketing strategy for example writing and painting advertising ads with the aim of attracting attention of qualified people. They look with personalities with unquestionable traits. The team should also understand the background as well as the rules and regulations that govern the ethical practices and morality as in the 1 Apple inc. they are looking for individuals who possess talents. The company always looks for referral networks of qualified people. They scrutinize all the candidate’s documents efficiently and effectively to determine their authenticity. They conduct the preamble interviews and order the background checks. Most importantly are maintaining competent and reliable hiring information systems. Compliance with all the afore-mentioned procedure will automatically help the Apple Company to effectively its organizational requirements hence competently operate in different nations of the world (Marino & Gamble 2010). Before the launch of any product into the market, the launching company should do enough to ensure that the product to be launched matches the current technological levels and advancements. With the launch of the Macintosh by Apple in 1984, it was hailed as a breakthrough in the PC industry but the joy was short-lived, in that the PC could not match the speed, power and software availability of the IBM’s PC that had been introduced in 1989(Marino & Gamble 2010). These changes affect new product opportunities in the sense that consumers are highly seeking for products that suit their daily operations. For instance, consumers who conduct their operations on mobile basis seek for portable and quality products with quality features. The launch of the Macbook Air by Apple was meant for the consumers who sought for portability and power. The weight and height of the Macbook air made it easy to carry around and thus won the consumer admiration. Because of this, the company will be forced to be on the look always (Marino & Gamble, 2010). Economic changes affect new product opportunities depending on whether the changes are positive or negative. Negative economic changes like the recession of 2008-2009 affect product opportunities in the sense that the product may not be able to sell much due to the prevailing conditions. For instance, the 2009 world recession negatively affected the mobile industry (Gay, Charlesworth & Esen 2010). Through innovation apple has been able to dominate the industry. The company looks for agility in talent and other fields. They have extra ordinary talents and this helps it to move into and dominate completely unrelated industries. It has built image that helps in the attraction of different skills and they always long to move into new products. A sound and profitable compensation strategy is a strategy that is built on truth based on the progresses that the Apple company registers based on its profitability margin. They also have lean talent management approach and this has ensured productivity. The company operates with reduced funding and this increases productivity more so through understaffing. In apple, every employee has to adopt the approach of leanness. In respect to change of culture, a sound compensation strategy helps to increase productivity in various ways. One of the very best ways is that, as the employees are rewarded according to their contributions (Gay, Charlesworth & Esen 2006). Finance, facilities and equipment are very vital resources that contribute to the success of the organization. Organization needs financial resources in order to acquire adequate facilities and equipments to support the operations. Apple has a strong financial position and is one of the most valued companies in terms of market capitalization. One of the company’s core competencies is the product innovation and it has used the technology to develop highly functional and usable mobile devices. Apple has been able to achieve meet the consumers preferences through their innovative and intuitive interfaces. The resources at apple are updated through talent management. The company really like innovation and hence ensures that talent of the workers are improved (Schneiders 2011). The company has made it prerequisite for the suppliers to adopt a training program designed and tested by Apple Inc for all the managers and workers at the factories and various assembly points. The management is trained on management practices like effective employee-management communication, anti-harassment policies as well as worker protection. The employees are trained on interpretation of local laws, their rights and occupational safety and health. In line with the implementation of the Code, the company oversaw the elimination of child labor at the factories of the suppliers. There are many development programs offered in apple for example product innovation and expansion. There are training in technical skills and this helps employees to understand the learning environment. They prefer training in product development as this helps employees to change faster and act faster too (Schneiders 2011). There has been good communication between different employees. Employee engagement has been one secret behind the organization success. The employees are taught to be self-reliant. On the other hand, employees are trained on the skills, which will help in the development of new opportunities. The company also offers electronic customer service training where developments in products are promoted. The company undertakes the training in the form of a workshop and the classroom setting where various trainers take turns to impact knowledge and skills to the audience. The company has continues to encourage its employees through motivation and reward. Teamwork has been highly encouraged in this company. It has played an important role in ensuring the organization process is accomplished in a more efficient manner (Lashinsky, 2012). Pertaining to the occupational health and safety of the employees, in the year 2010, two workers were killed and multiple others injured during an explosion at the plant. There have also been reports that some workers had been poisoned by n-hexane, which is a toxic compound for cleaning the touch screens of the phones. There are also complaints that the worker compensation and benefits for any damages incurred was insufficient besides workers being forced to resign from their positions if they were either incapacitated or discontented with the compensation offered. The company is perceived as having a carefree attitude towards its employees, which has huge impact on the market of Apple’s commodities. These acts also injure the relation of the company with the suppliers since it ends up in a blame game between the suppliers and Apple hence results in suspicion and mistrust. The relations with other suppliers are also affected since the company will seek to exert a greater authority over them to safeguard the image of the company. The employees’ welfare is also ruined since they are left worse off and will not be motivated to deliver optimally thus the overall productivity is at risk (Lashinsky 2012). On daily basis, the company allows employees to use the products on daily basis. Because of this, the employees connect with customers and this enables them to align to business goals and mission. In any business model, it is very important to build trust. Employees are work on their strength and actively get involved in fixing their failures. The company ensures that their products are elegant but simple. The company is driven by detail of the product chain right from the production to marketing phases (Sutherland 2012). To avoid bankruptcy the company was forced to change its culture. The culture of apple is to work hard even when there is nobody around to supervise employees. This allows individuals to be motivated even when alone. It had a unique structure and this made it to be ahead of its competitors. It had a centralized decision making process and this allowed decision making to be quick and responsive. Decisions were made at the lowest possible level. Local employees made Day to day decisions. There was quick responsiveness due to top down philosophy. In this company, accountability is strictly enforced and there are swift decisions. Every employee is forced to adhere with the culture or they can lose their jobs. The employees are forced to understand the brand promise to enable them sell what they know (Sutherland 2012). As an ethical leader, Steve jobs had passion to drive in ovation in his organizing by installing proportional levels of innovation and appreciation of his small team’s achievements. According to the Fortune Magazine 1998, Steve Jobs ethical belief in leadership practice is expressed in his statement that innovation has nothing to do with the amount of money spent on research and development but rather on the people the organization has, how the organization is led and the benefits of having good human resource relations. This is an illustration of Steve Jobs ethical belief in the capabilities of his team (Wooten 2011). Apple Inc. also introduces new products, which enable it to gain a competitive edge and a larger market share despite rigorous competition from Google’s Android market. It has received accolade in terms of innovations in the PC world, software applications, and operating systems for their products, media devices, mobile telephony as well as marketing and retail. Apple’s superior operating system and superb capabilities in handling graphics gave the Mac computers a competitive advantage over the other PC brands. However, many PC owners were hesitant to acquire the Mac due to the premium pricing as well as the complexity of the OS. However, with the reputation of the iPod and iPhone, consumers gradually shifted to Apple computers (Tar 2013). The company sought to grasp the PC market by introducing several brands in the category such as the Mac Pro, iMac and the Mac mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air to suit all the consumer needs. Apple’s superior operating system and superb capabilities in handling graphics gave the Mac computers a competitive advantage over the other PC brands. However, many PC owners were hesitant to acquire the Mac due to the premium pricing as well as the complexity of the OS (Luagesen & Yuan 2010). The marketing strategies employed by Apple when dealing with the iPhone have proved to be effective in ensuring its survival on the market. For one, they have enabled the company to stay ahead of its competition. Apple’s iPhone has been viewed as an exceptional product. The product has over the years been able to place the company ahead of its competition. The only way that Apple Inc. could achieve and maintain the mentioned financial vitality is through a loyal affair with the customer base. This gives the company a competitive advantage since such brand loyalty is difficult, costly and time-consuming to imitate (Luagesen & Yuan 2010). Change is brought by increase in customer wants. The major change that is daunting at the door of the Apple Company is non rather than a change in the management of the organization. The current change that is still fresh in the minds of the company’s customers is that the SVP of iOS Software, Scott Forstall’s time in office has expired in 2013(Tar 2013). The major changes in the organizational structure of Apple Company are aimed at building partnership between the organization’s global class hardware, software and the group of employees that provides competent services. The organization of apple have shown a lot of dedication to engage every senior member of the management in terms of adding them more responsibilities if possible e.g. Eddy Cue has been granted an additional responsibility revolving around Maps that include the amalgamation of the online services into one particular group. All these changes have been designed to ensure that the company’s online services are delivered in a competent manner that would satisfy the high expectations of the clients (Tar 2013). Apple will apply the kotters eight-step changer mode. The first step is the creation of urgency and justifying the importance of change. Step 2 is formation of a coalition, which involves identifying leaders to head the change process and provide guidance. Step 3 is the creation of a vision where the long-term vision of apple Company is to exist in a healthy environment that supports human form effectively. The vision will act as a reminder of the long-term objective that the organization aims at obtaining. Step 4 is communicating the vision to the employees. The employees should be constantly reminded of thee vision that is to be achieved. Step five according to the Kotter’s model is removal of obstacles. Apple Company will have obstacles coming from employees who will not be happy about the changes that will require them to learn new things and incorporate more technology in their operations. Step 6 is creation of short-term wins like completion of training programs of how to operate the new technology software. Step 7, which is to build on change, is where after every win apple Company analyzes what they have been able to get right and what they got wrong. Step 8 is to incorporate the change into the corporate culture of apple Company (Tar 2013). Conclusion Apple can enhance value to its customers with its iphone through better customer engagement. A good customer service has become a clear and critical factor of success and competitiveness in the market. The company has also ensured investment in research and development and as a result, this has enabled to remain innovative. Apple has also employed different market segmentation strategies to be able to serve its customers efficiently. The best competitive advantage of the company is the brand image, product quality and design. Various analyses can be applied in determination of the company’s internal and external environments and the best probable strategies that can be adopted to lower the prices, increasing the market share and increase the future sales volume. More strategies could be put to test to develop better products for the future generations and withstand the increasing competition in the industry. Generally, public Relations has played a major role in the company’s success even in the face of the of the FOXCONN suicide scandal. Bibliography Apple 2012, About Apple. Accessed 4 December 2014 Gay, R, Charlesworth, A & Esen, R 2010, “Online Marketing: A Customer-led Approach,” Oxford University Press, Oxford. Lashinsky, A 2012, Inside Apple: How Americas Most Admired--and Secretive—Company Really Works, New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing. Luagesen, J & Yuan, Y 2010, “What Factors Contributed to the Success of Apple’s iPhone?” 2010 Ninth International Conference on Mobile Business. Accessed 4 December 2014 Lüsted, M A 2013, “Apple: the company and its visionary founder, Steve Jobs,” Minneapolis, MN: ABDO Pub. Marino, L & Gamble, J 2010, Apple inc. in 2010. Accessed 4 December 2014 OGrady, J, D 2009, “Apple Inc,” Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press. Schneiders, S 2011, Apples secret of success - traditional marketing vs. cult marketing, Diplomica-Verl., Hamburg. Sutherland, A 2012, “The story of Apple,” New York: Rosen Central. Tar, A 2013, “Apple swot analysis,” Muchen: Grin Verlag Ohg. Wooten, LP 2011, “Building a Company the Steve Job’s Way: A Positive Deviance Approach to Strategy. Accessed 4 December 2014 Read More