Report (6) Essays - Apple Inc., Computing, Technology, Foxconn

Jana Johnson Vanbladel Soc 101 2018 Current Events The first Apple computers were built in a garage without any type of case, monitor, or keyboard. However, these still sold almost as fast as they could build them. From this point the company has become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Apple's dedication to user friendly designs and sleek interfaces created multiple generations of loyal customers who place great value in the Apple brand as well as even champion the Apple products. Furthermore, the digital hub strategy, which was responsible for the IPod, IPhone, and IPad, worked to completely revolutionize the industry. Yet the company still faces some major barriers in fending off their competitors and keeping their place atop the business world. The death of Steve Jobs was a tragic loss for the company. Jobs was a charismatic leader that saved the company from impending doom on multiple occasions. Without Jobs at the helm it is likely that the new management will have trouble demanding the same level of dedication that Jobs was able to rally his employees to. Furthermore, there are challenges faced in the supply chain in regards to social and environmental issues, Apple must again reinvent their operations in to become more sustainable and continue to command their loyalty from their customer base. Since Apple's market niche is heavily dependent on both quality and innovation, it must constantly act boldly to be the first to market. If they were to ever damage their brand names then it is likely to suspect that they could lose considerable market share. This would devastate the brand's value which has been built over the course of multiple decades. In order to reduce costs and increase quality, Apple has outsourced their entire production operation to strategic partnerships. Companies such as Foxconn in China represent some of the most efficient electronics manufactures in the world, yet using them as a partner comes with some costs; mainly social and environmental costs. It has been estimated that Foxconn currently accounts for forty percent of the world's entire electronic goods production and represents China's biggest exporter (Wingfield). Foxconn can accept virtually any electronics design and in most circumstances have a production line up in less than a week that can start mass manufacturing goods. However Foxconn, despite the level of sophistication in manufacturing capabilities, has many social and labor issues that have caused Apple a lot of grief domestically due to the negative publicity that has flooded the media outlets. Foxconn is currently under criticism for using child labor as well as violating employees' human rights (Moore). Other negative publicity reports that have surface include Apple's suppliers violating environmental regulations in China which are far less comprehensive than the regulations in the developed world (Meyer). Distribution channels are often a source of vertical or horizontal consolidations. Often consolation s along these can create interesting operational and strategy cases. Amazon has recently worked to integrate backwards as a publisher (Stone). The company has the intent of attracting writers and their agents who is interesting in partnering with Amazon for the full distribution of their works. Amazon can now basically publish an author's book and now push these products under traditional distribution channels that are not under Amazon's control. For example, if Amazon publishes a work for their clients they have access to their entire industry distribution channel; not only their own. This would mean that a purchase of a book at Barnes and Noble could possibly create a profit for Amazon. This significantly expands Amazon's control over the industry and it already has incredible power as the industry leader. However, such a move to vertically expand backwards has not come without controversy and resistance. Barnes and Noble, the largest traditional bookstore chain has decided not to stock Amazon's products in the hope of discouraging authors from signing publication contracts with Amazon. In this industry, there was once a level of vertical cooperation among authors, publishers, and retail outlets. However, Amazon's creeping into other channels has created a situation in which there is some tension now between these parties. Amazon has also been pressuring some of the publishers with low volume books to move to a print-on