CCTV,the biggest and most authoritative Chinese broadcaster ,attacked Apple company because of its unfair warranty policies,which caused a sensation in China.According to the article on The Economist,there are two parties involved in business ethics.
One is definitely Apple ,Chinese consumers do not have the same terms as the consumers in other countries.This is literally a discrimination and violates the principle of equal treatment.The other is Apple’s commercial rivals.Although Apple did do something unethical ,it was really exaggerated.Not only did CCTV exposed Apple but also a lot of celebrities posted comments about it on Weibo almost at the same time .It seemed that Apple suddenly became the public’s target and there might be some conspiracy.One possibility is that some rival firms like domestic cellphone companies planned this in order to push Apple out of Chinese cellphone market because Apple is too threatening.In this case,they played a dirty trick and wanted to benefit from Apple’s misfortune ,which is totally against business ethics.
Companies who disobey business ethics may benefit in the short run but it won’t last long because no company can afford to behave immorally.Once what they have done is revealed,it is hard for their reputation to regain and a bad brand image will leave in consumers’ minds.We all know how important a good brand image is for a company.Therefore, firms should focuses on its strategy and technology instead of achieving their ambition by an unethical way.