The Apple organization is a company that was established by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. The headquarters of the company is at Cupertino, California. The company deals with the sale of electronics such as computers and cellphones that are needed in the current digital world. Its products that top the market sales include: iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac Personal Computer, iPod portable media player, Apple Watch smart watch. It has established products that match with current technologies in the market and the technology they use supersedes the technology used by their competitors. Its innovative nature has enabled it to make these new products to be much in demand in the market. It is currently viewed as the world’s largest Information Technology Company based on its annual revenue and its total assets. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the company and they are still aiming at doing things newly.
The current size of the company is overwhelming. The company has over 50,000 employees with annual revenue of approximately $100 billion (Lashinsky, 2012). Most of its employees work with the other branches that are in foreign countries like China. It has established various branches all over the world. Its growth rate is at 60% every year that has enabled it to get ahead of its competitors. The net sales of its products increase every year, making the company earn a lot of profits.
The security system of the company is also set in the right manner. There are security officers located in the San Francisco Bay area who investigates any cases of insecurity in the Apple offices. The area also has a person in charge of the safety of the computers and networks (Nieto-Rodriguez, 2011). He ensures that the machines are kept safe from any individual planning to steal them. There is also a person who is in charge of managing any global crisis and the security of the emerging markets. Security in the company is tight at both local and international levels. The code of ethics is the issue that I would address. The company has set regulations that every employee is supposed to follow. It has also set measures for those who violate the rule.
Apple is very clear in ensuring that its employees display appropriate decorum and conduct in every situation. Integrity is the key aspect and according to the Apple Inc integrity comprises of: honesty, respect, confidentiality and compliance. (Sawayda, n.d.). Apple’s specially drafted code of business conduct remains the same in all its operations both in the USA as well as overseas. Apple’s employees have access to the Business Conduct Helpline to report any misconduct to the company’s Audit and Finance Committee.
The company has faced a few ethical issues in the recent past. When iPhone 4 was introduced there was a problem linked to reception due to antenna interference. Critics blamed the company for minimizing the issue rather than providing a remedy. This could affect the brand name. The next issue was based on user privacy infringement. It came to light that certain features in their products collected details regarding the user’s location. If the government passes a bill against this feature, then Apple will suffer along with many other companies. A report released by Apple states that 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases is released by Apple products and its operations annually. When the company is keen on introducing new products they need to take a look into the impact on the environment. In the long run, concern for the world we live in must be top of the company’s priority. Theft of intellectual property is also a cause for concern.
Apple should give priority to product quality, change features that invade the privacy of users and look at sustainability by making their products more eco-friendly. Patents will help them resolve intellectual property theft and lengthy legal battles. Working on these major issues will make take the company to greater levels of success and critics will have to look elsewhere to pass their comments. These will be my suggestions and these are the changes that I would incorporate to ensure that the company which is already seen as a market leader and a trend setter retains its position and continues to move forward from one success to another.
References
Lashinsky, A. (2012). Inside Apple: How America's most admired-and secretive-company really works. New York: Business Plus.
Nieto-Rodriguez, A. (2011). The focused organization: How concentrating on a few key initiatives can dramatically improve strategy execution. Farnham: Gower.
Sawayda, J. (n.d.). Apple Inc.’s Ethical Success and Challenges. Retrieved April 17, 2016, from https://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu/pdf/apple case.pdf
