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Product cover image for Apple and Its Suppliers: Corporate Social Responsibility

Apple and Its Suppliers: Corporate Social Responsibility

Sun Hye Lee; Michael J. Mol; Kamel Mellahi

Product #:9B16M040_P
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:International Business, Strategy
Setting:China, 2014
Details:Case (PDF) • 10 pages • 2016-03-22 (Rev: 2016-03-04)

Subjects:

Customer serviceCustomer experienceSupply chain managementBusiness managementInternational businessStrategy

Industries:

Fabrication and manufacturing

Geography:

ChinaAsia
Your Price:$8.66

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In a 2014 documentary, the multinational technology company Apple Inc. was implicated in alleged human rights violations at Pegatron, a large Chinese supplier that assembled Apple's iPhones. The allegations followed similar, well-publicized violations in 2009 at another China-based Apple supplier. Although Apple had promised to improve its practices, doing so had clearly proven to be a difficult task. How should Apple respond to these new allegations? Should it evade the accusations and instead point to its existing efforts? Could it do more to protect workers? Should it rethink its offshoring and outsourcing strategy? Is it fair to blame Apple for the activities of its suppliers? Where does the blame fall?

Learning Objectives

The case is ideal for undergraduate, graduate, and executive courses. It is particularly well suited to ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) courses and is also suitable for courses in strategic management, international business, and operations management. After completion of the case, students will be able to understand:
  • The trade-off between being profitable and doing well for society at large.
  • The challenges of matching CSR practices to CSR expectations.
  • The challenges of managing and monitoring outside suppliers.
  • The hard realities of managing CSR across institutional boundaries.
  • The complexity of managing CSR issues across multiple levels.
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Case Study: Apple and Its Suppliers: Corporate Social Responsibility | Ivey Publishing